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<DIV><B>
<P>DATE:</B> August 5, 1997<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Butler, PA, USA<BR><B>T/R:</B>
Gerdean </P>
<P><STRONG>TEACHER SESSION:<BR></STRONG><STRONG>Assessment of the Teaching
Mission<BR>The Future of the Teaching Mission </STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>TOMAS:</STRONG> Good evening, friends. I am Tomas.<BR><B>GROUP</B>:
Good evening.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Merium and I are here as well as many of your other celestial
friends who frequent your gatherings and who frequent your independent lives. We
enjoy these occasions of coming together as you do, and we enjoyed this evening
prompting you by way of your mechanical contrivance, your candle. It is a way of
making contact, indeed, even though you wisely scepticise at its effectiveness,
at its existence. </P>
<P>How convoluted that was! I am saying: you are right to question the validity
of such a contrivance and we encourage you to continue to question all facets of
your path -- not The Father Himself, of course, but -- all things that fall
short of ultimate perfection, for therein you are not acting blindly but are
acting consciously. You are making decisions that contribute to your growth.</P>
<P>We heard you discussing earlier the supposed phenomenon of the candles and
equating the lighting up of them to the superstitious belief of the woman who
sought to touch the hem of His garment, and even her superstition, in believing
that the mere texture of fabric could heal her, is much like your seeking
God-consciousness through a mechanical device such as a lit candle. But, as you
testified, it is the living reality of your spirit life that counts, your living
faith not in the candles, but in the concept of God that lies behind your
belief, the faith that there is a celestial host of personalities who would
speak with you if you were but aware of them.</P>
<P>And so we understand your quandary and encourage your investigation into any
and all things that will bring you closer to God, that will increase your
appreciation for truth, beauty and goodness, that will help you to find
compassion for your fellow believers, that will help you to understand the
nature of the vast creations of time and space.</P>
<P>That could almost be construed as a blanket invitation to investigate any
number of even sordid spiritualist behaviors, and I tell you that it is not
forbidden to investigate the runes, the I Ching, astrology, numerology, kinetic
cameras, and so on, for although they are not divine revelation, they are
interesting scaffolding and they do provide avenues of discourse and opportunity
for sharing relative realities en route to greater realities.</P>
<P>How I managed to go down this path, I am not certain; but it seems an
appropriate commentary under the circumstances; it is part of the understanding
that this period of time in your history is filled with all manner of
investigations, and investigations are not discouraged for they lead to
growth.</P>
<P>As you discover the merits, the relative value, and the falsehood of those
things which you investigate, you can then assimilate or discard them
intelligently and willingly; you can relinquish them, then, for those truths
which have more lasting value, that hold more substance; and who is to say, in
an individual's development, what has merit and what does not?</P>
<P>Even those of us who have attained this level of operation in the spirit
realm have experienced many mysteries and would not have known how to choose but
for our engrossed investigation of these that were placed in our path. Having
experienced them, having appreciated them for their relative worth, we can also
appreciate how and why others would stop to linger upon a bright and shiny
bauble that held not lasting value but provided temporary joy and beauty in the
moment.</P>
<P>There are other investigations that take place, even into the spirit realms,
one of which is a discussion among some of us teachers having to do with how to
proceed in the various groups and with the individuals comprising the flock of
the Teaching Mission. There are those who would have us be more firm and more
commanding, while there are others who would molly-coddle affectionately and
prevail upon the mercy and tenderness aspects of truth and divinity to foster
the understanding of a loving universe.</P>
<P>These are some of the things that we discuss in our "staff meetings" and as
there is no 100% sure way to deal with everyone except through an interpretation
of love, we are then provided with a similar quandary to those who likewise
question the relative merits of these other and many growth hurdles that have
been laid in your path.</P>
<P>I would like to ask you and openly solicit your in-put, and it is not
required that you come forth with an enlightened and lengthy dissertation upon
request, but how do you feel about the Teaching Mission and your involvement in
it? How do you feel the teachers would best bring about that which we hope to
bring about? Give me your in-put, your contribution in terms of where we are
headed.</P>
<P>How would you like to see us progress? Do you feel that we are meeting your
needs? Your expectations? Do you feel that we are a waste of time? Do you feel
that we are pushing you too hard or that you would like to go further? Do you
feel anything at all? I open this to you at large and I will allow you, among
yourselves, to respond, understanding that it would be appreciated if one
individual only spoke at one time.</P><B>
<P>Hunnah:</B> It's as if you were reading my mind. I was lying in bed last
night just wondering where this was going. In the human world, it is not
uncommon for a group like this to have a three-year cycle. I remember when I was
in the Casey group it was a three-year cycle and the attendance wavered and I
was one of the last ones to stay with it, and I don't say that because I'm any
better for it, but because I wasn't catching on that it was over.</P>
<P>And I don't bring that up as a first observation, but how can we be something
we are not? I was talking with a woman at work today about her spirit; she was
alert and interested in what I was saying, but I could not take her where she
could not go, and I was in a time frame where it was not my job to make that
visit into a workshop. It's as if we were all given an eyedropper and a small
bottle and told that we could go around and put a drop here and a drop there and
then someday something would come of it.</P>
<P>It bothers me that I can't dialog with you the way I do when I'm not
transmitting, like I am now. I would like to have that type of bantering and
listening and camaraderie with you all the time. I went to my computer and sat
down and it was another failure, so I left and I thought, "Well, so be it." I
cannot say that I am any more stuck than my last meditation. I had a teacher
that used to say I'm no better than my last meditation, and I have lived with
that suggestion long enough now to find out that it was absolutely accurate in
regard to having a meaningful day.</P>
<P>I don't know that I'm answering your questions, but … I have not met anyone
who was willing to come into a "Urantia group" but I probably could put together
something where people would simply find that they communicated and that the
subject matter would rise to a plane better than everyday conversations, and
there would be a receptivity. I really don't know what to tell you, but I do
know that I've been having a hard time for about three months, and my mental
self tells me it's because "I'm processing" -- whatever that means -- but I feel
compassion for you because your students can't go any faster than they do, it
seems. I'll stop. You can comment.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am going to withhold comment. However, I would like to hear also
from Leah and from Ann. (Long pause) If you have nothing to say, that is all
right.</P><B>
<P>Leah:</B> Well, the question was asked, do you feel we're wasting our time.
Obviously we wouldn't be here ... Maybe that isn't ... No! I find this inspiring
to reflect upon -- things in my life, and I suppose in other people's lives --
not that I should be dwelling on theirs so much. The statement's been made --
and the teaching, I find it very helpful -- but I always wondered if we were
going to do some kind of a project, like a community thing or, I don't know what
particularly. </P>
<P>I thought perhaps ... one of the other groups had done something like
adopting a highway and picking up trash and something like that to help the
environment in the sense of spirituality. I perceive that we'll do something but
I don't know what it is particularly, other than to take our essence among
people and ...</P>
<P>I don't really understand all that energy stuff, but it is my understanding
that when you take the time to meditate and to reflect on these things, that it
does affect other people. For myself I have a joke that I think my ministry is
smiling. I like to smile at people. And I like to listen to them, too. I take it
from you, Tomas, that those things are important. I know there's so much more,
but that just comes to my mind at the moment.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Thank you, Leah. Ann? I know that you have not been long with this
community, but you have been a vital part in the brief time that you have been
among us. Tell me, has your association with the teachers been helpful to you?
Do you feel that we are contributing to your life?</P><B>
<P>Ann:</B> Yes, I do. Many times I go back and I reflect on the teachings and
how it applies to my life at the time and how it could apply in past situations,
and it's been helpful for me. And as far as going anywhere with it, I haven't
been around long enough to be at that point to need to move on somewhere else.
This seems to be enough for me right now.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Thank you, my child. I would also like to hear from Gerdean if she
is willing to make some remarks.</P><B>
<P>Gerdean:</B> When have I not liked making remarks? Thank you, Tomas, for the
opportunity to give in-put. I very much appreciate your work, your dedication. I
appreciate your authority and I appreciate Merium's gentleness. I appreciate all
the teachers that I've ever learned from, and like Hunnah, I have compassion for
you teachers, figuring that it must sometimes be frustrating to have-- </P>
<P>Well, it's like I wrote in my journal yesterday: "If you've lived all your
life in a cave, how can you describe the sunshine?" And I feel as if you have
lived in the sunshine and we are in this cave and we can see the sun shining.
We're looking at the door and we can see that the sun is shining out there, but
it's altogether different than standing out there basking in it like you do. I'm
just glad that the sun is shining!</P>
<P>I don't know -- well, I'm sure that every proponent of the Teaching Mission
wonders where we're going with it. I do realize how much I have grown and how
much my faith has grown, how much my soul has grown. I know that I am no longer
alone -- That is a very, very significant piece of reality in my life. Even when
my mortal peers are not flanking me, I know that <I>you</I> are. Even when I
doubt your existence, I know that what you represent is true.</P>
<P>I hope you don't go away. Even though it's a responsibility and sometimes
it's wearisome to try to keep up with the spiritual growth that you seem to
think I'm capable of, I also know what happens when I stagnate and fall back
into the comfort of the darkness, so I appreciate your prodding, and I also
appreciate Merium's molly-coddling and tenderness. However it is that your
personalities opt to manifest is fine with me.</P>
<P>I hope you aren't having any arguments in the spirit realms about what to do
with us. And even saying that, of course, I bring you down to our level, but you
did say, not long ago, that sibling rivalries were possible. If you guys are
arguing up there on our behalf, knock it off! We're doing fine. You're doing
fine. And to quote you, "All is well". So those are my comments.</P><B>
<P>Hunnah:</B> I would like to add a P.S. There is an expression that "thank
you" with someone you live with is understood? That you don't go around with
every statement and say "thank you"? Well, I must say "thank you" and I said
"thank you" to my mother because I feel as if one of the greatest gifts that I
have received in my human experience is seeing the transformation of my mother's
personality, of her fulfillment, of her attitude, of her quality of life, and
she is having some tests done today and it -- she was reassured by her teacher
that she was in a sense living in her, for want of a description, in her
morontia energies.</P>
<P>And my mother has done exactly what the highers, our friends, have wanted all
people in her age group to be able to do, is to bask and indulge in this dialog
and this opportunity to learn and she is starting to write poetry and I'm so
thrilled that she is not in Illinois. I have the privilege of being in close
proximity of her and seeing the fruitage of this movement in her, and it is an
unlikely area, to see it in a person in her age group, so that ...</P>
<P>I am extremely grateful, and I am aware of the companionship that's here, but
I was in bed last night and I still doubt that I believe! I doubt the quality of
my belief in Christ Michael. I doubt the quality of my acceptance of your
service.</P>
<P>I went to the chiropractor and I put my arm out and he said "Do you believe
in chiropractic?" and my arm went down and we both laughed and he said, "Of
course you're having troubles, because you are serving two masters!" and when
you embrace a new teaching, there is a part of you that is still married to the
old teaching and ... her description of the light in the cave was excellent . .
. because what you do is you go out, like a cat, and you get warm in the sun and
you feel good for awhile and then you go back in and you go to the accustomed
environment, so apparently what's happening is we're just responding the way
people do at our level.</P>
<P>I really thought, for myself, that I would be able to show you more fruitage,
but it's apparently happening in an area where I'm incapable of judging, which
is probably very good. It's sort of nice that you asked us this. The whole thing
just boggles my mind. Oftentimes I can't believe that I'm in the group, but I do
respect it, but I don't get to share it with anybody else but us for fear of
being a nut in their eyes. I don't want to hurt the quality of what we have by
exposing it inappropriately. Thank you.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Thank you, my daughter. Thank you all for your soulful expressions
and your wholehearted response to my question. Your testimonies have given us
courage. You have heard it said that we are here for the long haul, and so we
are, but like you, it is good to hear that you are loved and appreciated, not
only on a cursory level but on a meaningful level. We are teachers who have come
to teach you to be teachers.</P>
<P>Earlier Hunnah remarked about instigating an environment in your arena which
lent itself well to a natural proclamation of truth, and this is the fruitage of
your soul's progress, that you would allow for such an environment of Light and
Life to prevail, indeed, to help to orchestrate, through the ministrations of
the Infinite Spirit, to create the kind of environment that would enable spirit
to go from potential to actual, and to thus bring about a glimpse more of Light
and Life on Urantia. Another glimmering of truth to add to the Supreme.</P>
<P>The Correcting Time will be on-going for many years, but there are other
thrusts involved. It is not now nor has it ever been our intention to keep you
churned up inside yourselves trying to purify your own soul, but to go forth in
your childlike faith and teach what you have learned; even if on occasion what
you teach is not ultimate truth, if you teach in good faith. It will be brought
home, whether it is truth or not, and you can grow accordingly.</P>
<P>But there are long-range goals of the Teaching Mission that see past your own
correcting, and even past the correcting of the planetary conditions as outlined
before, in setting it in alignment with where it would be had it not been
retarded by the Lucifer rebellion and the Adamic default. The other reasons
involve reaching toward Light and Life, and although it is a way off, it is the
new frontier, and you pioneers in the spirit are forging the way through the
material mind of the age into the morontial values of the future. </P>
<P>We are preparing the way for the Trinity Teacher Sons, which will surely
arrive. Your minds are being prepared for greater teachers than we [are]. Also,
this process of communication, besides reassuring you, to some extent, that you
are not alone in the universe, is a method of familiarizing you with your own
mind sufficiently that you know the difference between your voice and the voice
of your Thought Adjuster. In due course, as you evolve, as you become aligned
with His will, you will have better communications.</P>
<P>This practice of speaking with your personal teachers and the group teachers,
and indeed Michael and other personalities, can give you a conscious awareness,
a practice, of the various and sundry personalities that exist throughout your
cosmic neighborhood and can contact you in your mind through the circuitry. This
friendly universe opens the door for your closer betrothal and communication
with your indwelling God fragment.</P>
<P>As you allow yourself to step aside for greater reality, knowing in your
heart that it is of The Father, you ultimately will be able to have contact and
speak directly with the Father that dwells within you.</P>
<P>There are long-range goals for the Teaching Mission. This is not a card
party. It is not a human interest situation that we will outgrow and that will
become <I>passe</I> as greater truths come into being, for you, my students, are
the greater truths that are coming into being. You are the progeny of the
teachers of the Revelation; you work under the banner of Michael, the Creator of
this Universe; you are the vanguard to the new age. You are greater than the New
Age.</P>
<P>Do not grow weary, do not fall short of your own expectations. We are
grateful to you. We are very grateful to your application, to your efforts, your
growth, your faith, your struggles, even for your doubts and for your fears. We
are grateful to you that you are, and in that we are grateful for your very
existence, we truly nurture you and hold you to our heart in the most loving
embrace.</P>
<P>God and man need each other. This is a relationship that will last throughout
eternity, that will expand and grow and continue to plant seeds of satisfaction
in your soul that you can plant seeds and bring in the harvest for The Father
tomorrow. </P><B>
<P>TOMAS</B>: I have had my work cut out for me this evening and I feel like I
earned my keep. I thank you for your loyalty and your love. I also thank my
co-workers in the spirit realm, and particularly Merium for her valuable
assistance. All of you, continue. You're doing well. I will see you soon.
Farewell.</P>
<P>[This session was extended by Merium working with Hunnah on transmitting
skills and a visitor, a social architect. In the interest of expediency, they
will regrettably be expunged from this transcript.]</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>