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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: center 3.0in left 328.8pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Michael--December
14, 20009<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Marin TM Group--Mill Valley,
</SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">California</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">--</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">U.S.A.</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL--T/R-JL<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Michael’s Christmas
message<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Dear Michael and Mother Spirit,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’ve been trying to get some
grasp on what is the essence of the coming holidays--or holy-days--at this time
of year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I recalled the words of
the carol celebrating the little town of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Bethlehem</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">, the assertion that “the hopes and fears of all the
years are met in thee tonight” with your birth as Jesus. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It always puzzled me: what had fear to do
with it? <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What could it mean by a
meeting of hope and fear?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But the
more I thought of it, the more it seemed they are inextricably tied together.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>It’s fear that challenges the innate
hope of a living human being, yet by the same token it’s hope that allows us to
conquer our fears.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So your coming
was the meeting of these two things.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The hope that you embodied then, and now in our ways of contacting you
and Mother Spirit, do give birth, do bring into consciousness those very fears
and limitations that are holding us back.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It’s by having faith and hope in the two of you, and in our loving
connection, that we are able to meet those fears. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is the triumph of hope.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Then there’s that other essential
element of the holidays--the getting together and sharing our lives.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You’ve taught us the essence of
divinity, of God’s intrinsic nature, is His ability to share living reality with
others--the purpose for the whole creation and all the personal beings in
it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is another way we triumph
over fear, by getting together and sharing our lives with each other.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This too is the hallmark of the holidays
that we treasure so deeply. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So
thank you, dear parents, for allowing us to share this time with you
tonight.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Amen. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Good evening my children, this is
Michael. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am very happy, very
pleased to share this time with you.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Mother Spirit and I once teased you with the notion that this is how one
and one make three, that when two people get together and really enjoy each
other, it seems there is some third thing that comes into existence.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And this is real, this emerging surround
of enjoying the spiritual dimension of human reality. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s always here; you are always
connected through your Thought Adjusters, through the pure spirits of God’s
presence within you, but when you get together--and this might be by telephone
or email or your delightful Christmas cards--however it is you get together and
share your lives with each other--this is making manifest and bringing into
being, acknowledging and delighting in this spiritual dimension that so often
goes unnoticed. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>For many this is just an inexplicable
feeling good to be with a friend. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s almost a definition of
friendship--being with those people who simply delight you to be near even
beyond your own ability to know why.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The feeling seems to just spring up of it’s own.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And it’s that springing up of life and
joy within you that is, in its final analysis, inexplicable. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It just happens. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So much of your curiosity is directed at
this happening to know why, so you can do it again, you end up simply marveling
at it. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the unfathomable
wonder of friendship, this extra dimension that comes into being when you get
together. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>You have that rather cynical expression
that misery loves company. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But seen
in this light, that’s a rather negative way of seeing, actually a put-down, of
human nature, that when you are miserable you just want to lay it on someone
else--just heap your burden on someone else. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But that doesn’t really work, does it?
There are burdens that are yours alone to bear, and relief cannot be found in
just any kind of simple company which might only make it worse. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Though misery may love company, it’s not
just any company is it? <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Think of
all the hardships the human race has known. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Think of the fear and the pain you
yourself have known and how it is lightened, not just by company, but by that
special company you call friends.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>It’s the sharing within friendship that
destroys misery. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s the very
existence, the very demonstration, if you will, of the reality of friendship, of
this spiritual dimension of human reality; that is what works. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is what has enabled the human race
to face and conquer all the tooth and claw of the animal world, all the
hardships of life--the hunger and pain and exposure--even the sure knowledge of
inevitable death: all of this has been more than counter-balanced by the sheer
reality of friendship.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>There’s a corollary here that beauty
also conquers fear. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Just being in
the presence of something or someone demonstrating the quality of beauty--the
very existence of such a thing--mitigates that anxiety.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Beauty enables a person to say, Yes I am
in pain, but look at what a beautiful sunset there is; how lovely is this person
here with me as we are doing all we can for each other.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In each moment of life there is that
which makes living worthwhile. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Mother Spirit and I have shared with
you our experience of the human race on Urantia, and how the spiritual glow
coming from all the people on this planet so enormously outshines all the pain
and suffering, the fear and the anxiety, even the spiritual loneliness of some.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To some degree the pain and
suffering of life is unavoidable simply in being a physical being subject to the
inevitable decrepitude and suffering, of even a long life, ending in inevitable
death.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yet accompanying that long
life is an ever growing soul, and so this transcendent reality--this cosmic
reality co-authored by a presence of God--this moment by moment fulfilled
purpose of life--this very reality, my children, that you can experience, this
too is a that everlasting light that your Christmas carol speaks of. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is another light that illuminates
the hopes and the fears of all the years, for that bright soulful
illumination--the very existence of that illumination--outshines all the
darkness of the human condition. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Indeed the mature human soul, having
known so much life, realizes how much a part these marvelous bodies you have can
give you of a feeling for time and eternity that is unique to the human
races.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And so this so-called
animal/primitive human heritage that you must deal with in turn gives so much
meaning to human life.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To see
things from a genuine spiritual perspective does not entail denying anything
whatsoever. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You have only to bite
your lip or pinch your finger a tiny bit to know the reality of pain--for those
of you who are not literally living in it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Yet you can see how this is not a curse. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the most marvelous gift, this
physical-ness you know. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For you
will come to know in time and eternity a scope of experience that no other order
of being has as a personal possession. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This was why, my children, one of the
greatest gifts that my Father could give me was the ability to have a physical
human life myself.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was, and
remains, one of my most prized soul possessions. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>I’ve talked a little bit about what
those few forty years or so has meant to a being such as myself with hundreds of
billions of years of life and endless trillions upon trillions of human children
already in my past, still to experience being human as you can. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is no replacement, there is no
universe substitute for this moment by moment living your human lives. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That, my dear ones, is a radiance that
will only grow in appreciation as you move beyond this first life of yours.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is what we mean when we say you
are earning this appreciation of reality like no other being can, and this is an
eternal possession of yours. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Now see all the limitations, the
possibility for pain and suffering, in this light. You begin to glimpse, even if
only a tiny speck, God’s wisdom. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So
add this to your worship, dear ones.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Thank your Father for all the irreducible aspects that go into meaning,
what it means to have a human life. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Even marvel at what it means when you can
get together and literally create these holy-days, these holidays.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What delightful excuses every religion
knows to do that very thing--to set aside everything else to, fundamentally, get
together and feel that extra dimension of everlasting light in which all the
hopes and fears of all the years meet. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the triumph of the human spirit
and soul.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is how goodness and
truth and beauty conquer fear just in your sheer experience of them--to know
that such things exist.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So let them
remain a bit inexplicable. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let them
be wondrous. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let them thrill your
soul.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Merry Christmas, my dear ones.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let us look to the Source of the very
reality of merriment. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This too is
where you find my peace. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Now if you
have any questions or comments this evening, let’s make merry with them.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Father Michael, I have a question about
worship, like, what is it? <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You’ve
hinted from time to time, but I would like to know more explanation, if you
would, please. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What is worship and
how do we do it? <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes my son, as you have been told, as
you’ve read, the ability, even the desire--the impetus to worship and feel
thankful means you have crossed over a threshold, and not only in the general
sense of the dividing line between the animal and the human, but right in your
own life. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You have all personally
crossed this threshold.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sometime as
a young child you moved beyond a kind of monkey-see--monkey-do kind of behavior
to make a quality of decision.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You
chose to do something your own creative spirit suggested and it granted you the
quality of free will dignity, the dignity of being a full, if still little human
being.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The realization of a
potential that was with you from conception finally was manifest. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You experienced the dimensions of worship
and wisdom in their most primal sense by this first act of choice with an
upwelling feeling of the kind of joy and delight of being alive that transcends
any kind of merriment an animal might know. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Even though incapable of being
consciously articulated yet, my son, this was your first worship. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Your joy of being alive resounded in
Mother Spirit and myself, and in our Universal Father, as a profound
thankfulness. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This joy, this
delight in just being alive gave you the recognition you have a life. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Hopefully, even later, came the
understanding that this life you have is somewhat unique to you.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This uniqueness is your God-given
personality, a further augmentation of this awareness of all that you are.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And so, most fundamentally, worship is
your thankfulness for being alive, and all that your soul is capable of
experiencing that I touched on tonight, all the hope and all the fear.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>This thankfulness is the most
fundamental thing that registers directly with Mother Spirit and myself, and
with our Father. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Its coming was
instantaneous with the presence of God within you. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was the birth of your soul.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Though it had such unconscious
beginnings, just a welling up within you as a small child, you crossed a
threshold and became aware as you laughed and giggled and rolled around from
time to time with the sheer exuberance of a young human being.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>This worship, this thankfulness forms a
connection with your Father--with His presence within you, and with all those
positive qualities numbering in the hundreds you can experience in life. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>First the perception of them, and then
the appreciation of all these positive qualities that come under truth and
beauty and goodness; this too is worship. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This too is saying, Thank you, Father,
that these qualities of yours are real, and that I am such a being who can
experience them, and know them, and make them my own.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>This is how worship begins and gives
rise to the consciousness wherein you decide to send a beam of love and
thankfulness to God, to Mother Spirit and me.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It can be those little mini-meditations
throughout your day when you simply say, Hello God!--thank You for me.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And rest in the glory of the feelings
you get with His reply.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Then
letting His love flow through you to another; this is the most wonderful worship
of all.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is sharing your
worship with another in the most direct way. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You’re thanking Him by being His helping
hand, reaching out to touch, and be touched.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>So all of these, my son, are
worship--that which rises spontaneously within you and you allow to happen, all
the way to the more formal prayer of thankfulness you express in your mind.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s all worship.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s all part of being a human being,
and being aware you have so much to be thankful for. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Does this give you some sense of the
profound meaning, the marvelous extent all wrapped up in that one little word
?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes, it’s a beginning. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I guess I was looking for a neat little
formula I could use so I wouldn’t make any mistakes about it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But I see there is none, just maybe
spontaneous expressions of joy--it looks like to
me.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, you could say in one word:
thankfulness. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yeah, now it seems too simple but…yes,
it is.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How about: appreciation; sharing;
friendship?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is what I hoped to
convey this evening, how the very existence of spirit, of truth and beauty and
goodness in your life--just to realize these things exist--are the proof within
your own soul of their Creator, as well as your own co-creation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This realization is your own creative
act of spirit, my son, and the basis for the most profound inner tranquility.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is an enormous leap of human
realization and understanding to credit that--everything--that exists only
exists by way of a deliberate creation, initially of God’s, then shared with all
personal beings. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nothing just comes
about truly spontaneously in point of origin. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All creativity is of the spirit, and all
spirit is personal. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the
basis for your enlightened thankfulness--your conscious appreciation, your
enhanced shared joy and delight in each other, and in our Father. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Is that worship
enough?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes--very much so.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I expect it will get more and more
expansive as time goes by. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, my son, that’s that wonderful
orientation of my Spirit of Truth within you.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You’re being open to more truth and you
will indeed (Michael chuckles) grow with it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Keep that orientation, and be in my
peace.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Thank you, Father
Michael.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Good evening, Michael.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My question tonight is along the lines
of your talking about people coming together and enjoying one another, and
sharing in their spirit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I see it
as a whole continuum of the way we come together.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Is there, from your perspective, your
mind, a time when it goes from being people coming from a deeper spiritual
sharing in what we could call a religion--and how that spirit of wanting to come
together and worship together…<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How
much is there a qualitative difference between people getting together in the
holidays and having a good meal versus people getting together and sharing a
religious ritual together?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes, my daughter.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is no necessary qualitative
difference.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is no direct
correlation between spirit and--shall we say--some relatively reoccurring event
as in every religious establishment on earth, no correlation because these
events can be attended almost devoid of spiritual sharing.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They can be social requirements of the
folks around one who demand these outward observances be made, so they can be
made begrudgingly and with much inner cynicism and fraudulent emotion, and so
forth.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Whereas two friends getting
together in the holidays after perhaps years of not seeing each other, just that
kind of thing is really a holy day for them.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>From our viewpoint, religion is
exclusively the relationship of an individual personality to God.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the sum total of religion.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What you call your religions, your
religious groupings, are the socialization, the sharing of that
relationship.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So there has to be
this something inside, this inner life, this inner relationship with God, which
Mother Spirit and I spoke about the last few times.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As you say, when people with this inner
sense of spirit get together, then that is the quality, the qualitative
difference that may or may not coincide with so-called religious
festivities.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you will, that’s
the religion within the festivities, and what these festivities hopefully help
to bring about.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>This is such an individual thing in its
essence, my daughter, we have to keep aware of the level of generality on which
I’m discussing these things.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In
each living son or daughter of God this relationship with his or her Creator is
the basis of their religious life.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It is this that is being shared, or not, in their get-togethers that
denotes the truly religious character as different from other social functions,
although both may be full of love and fun.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Deep calls to deep, and deep responds.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is what makes the holidays truly
holy days.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is the spiritual
reality being experienced that fills the soul.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Does this give you some sense of the
inner difference between religious sharing with others as contrasted with more
casual occurrences?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So everyone grows and develops their own
inner relationship with God, and then it’s in our nature to want to share this
with one another.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s what you
taught us.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s your religion as
you practiced it.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yes, this is truly my religion, and not
just the religion about me.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
was what I did my best to teach my followers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was how they themselves could
directly access the presence of God within them.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>By doing so they could discern God’s
will, and get in tune and in sync with the ultimate law of the universe.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This was how they could develop their
will so they could choose and execute God’s will.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the essence, because it is
spirit, my daughter, that unites.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It is because you are a spiritual being that your personality has the
ability to unite you inside.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This,
in turn, is what gives you the ability to unite with others, and to feel and
experience together that which unites you all in a transcendent way.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And yes, this is intrinsically
joyful.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the fun of it
all.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the delight of
love--loving and being loved.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Does
this seem to accord with what you’ve experienced?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Oh!--definitely!<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In many respects it seems very simple,
and yet we so often make it so complicated.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We try to build all these structures
around it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is nice to feel the impulse of
spirit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The essence of divinity is
to share oneself--what we call spiritual generosity.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s the living, dynamic nature of God’s
love that He wants to share with you, and that, having experienced this, you
feel the same impulse to share it with others.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the true origin of your
religious organizations--the socialization--the desire to build societies in
which you can share this most precious part of your inner reality; to make it
manifest outwardly in all the good acts and joyous
comings-together.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Because of geographical/cultural
differences even on the very small-tribal level, this has been one of the more
fundamental causes of warfare throughout human history--people literally meaning
to decide on the battlefield whose God was greater than the others’.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yet this also has meant just how
important this relationship has always been to people.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They simply--profoundly--failed to
realize their inner reality could only be offered to others; it could never be
imposed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But since you are capable
of imposing physical and even mental conditions on each other, the more immature
and self-centered among you do make that mistake--that they can impose spiritual
realities upon someone else.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Freedom, freedom to choose, freedom to explore and seek God’s will, is of
the very essence of His will.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>And so, my dear, these
getting-togethers of yours, do they give you this sense of
freedom?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>Student:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Pretty much so.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I can see how there is a strong tendency
to nail it all down--so to speak--and make it all just so, and get people to
respond in a certain way.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But it
would be nice to allow people to be free--to choose to come and go in whatever
they believe; it would really make a difference.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, once you socialize your religious
feelings, there is some deliberate planning involved in getting together.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since you are in such a mobile society
these days, it means you are scattered around so much more now than in the
past.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But by the same token, you
can utilize all your modern modes of transportation and communication to get
together.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>56:06<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3>To be continued.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My apology, dear friends.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I ran out of time, and I wanted to get
this much out before Christmas day.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>There are about another twenty minutes or so to go, with this same
student, but I’ll get them out in the next few days.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Thanks for your understanding and
patience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>JL<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT><U><o:p></o:p></U></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>