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<DIV>Ho! Thanks for transcribing this one goes to Juan.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Michael--March 21,
2011<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Marin TM Group—Mill Valley,
California—U.S.A.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL—T/R-JL<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>(A
sense of proportion) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(The present Renaissance) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Be you own, independent person) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Reactions to catastrophe)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(The real and the ideal)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Living men and women) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Dear Michael and Mother Spirit,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Welcome once again. Once
again we gather together to hear your good words, and we’ve especially enjoyed
your last few lessons on our current world situation which you characterize as a
Spiritual Renaissance. It’s all the topsy-turvy, up-side-down kinds of things
happening in so many aspects of our lives—social, economic, and political. All
these different aspects are being re-examined and re-evaluated.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>However difficult this is for each of us as individuals, you’ve noted it
is both necessary and sufficient to keep the world evolution ongoing. So with
this background of inexorable planetary evolution in mind, we can better accept,
maybe even welcome these profound changes going through the world. We thank you
for outlining this spiritual background against which some of these things make
more sense. Amen.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Good evening, this
is Michael. As always: I enjoy your welcome. Mother Spirit and I are happy to,
as you say, outline some of the background against which these world changes are
coming about. Mother Spirit talked in her last lesson here about a peace
dividend that, as the world settles down and there's no longer as much warfare
as in the past, a certain kind of individualism can begin to flourish. There's
no longer a need for such a concentration of authority because people were face
to face with imminent warfare.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>(A
sense of proportion) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>You understand, my children, this is all very relative. One line from
your Urantia book we love to mention over and over again, and that is the
statement that a hallmark of wisdom--a sure sign of individual wisdom within
each one of you--is an ever-growing sense of proportion.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For so often in your discussions on
various subjects; so many times it's just pure principles that are put forth and
people more or less argue right past each other. It's up to you to assign the
right proportions to each of these statements, each of these arguments.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This encourages me to challenge you to do your best now there are so many
points of view available to you from the far left to the far right on social
issues and economic theory, political ties and viewpoints, all this constant
balancing between private and public policy in all the upheaval going through
the world today. It's up to you to assign the correct proportions to these often
very strident and over-stated positions. This is where you have to develop and
build your own wisdom, your own broad reach of understanding based on the many
contradictory facts as they are given. This is the part you play and, as I said
in a Lightline teleconference, this is not what you might think of as some kind
of superficial compromise between points of view. It's a genuine synthesis that
depends upon your own creativity to come up with your own point of view. It’s
your own comprehensiveness--what it takes in a spiritual, all-inclusive way, to
comprehend all that you've taken in. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This is the peace dividend, part of which is a greater transparency
allowing a greater depth of viewpoint. You students of history know this is
generally not allowed as long as you have a concentration of power and authority
which has the ability then to censor all conflicting viewpoints, a censorship
that’s an integral part of a society girded for war. So this transparency is a
big part of the peace dividend, but only because it's being demanded by the
individuals in society. This cessation of censorship, or even now what you call
on a more subtle level the political correctness of one viewpoint or another;
now you can use this yourselves as a way testing the waters. When you tune in to
some commentator you can feel for how much they themselves invite you to check
out opposing viewpoints or, on the contrary, how much they imply that theirs is
the only truth, the only way of seeing things. You can very quickly get a sense
for what we call ideologues, commentators who can only present one viewpoint to
the exclusion of all others. In other words, my children, you yourselves can
sense for the wisdom of whatever commentator you are listening
to.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(The present Renaissance) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This is the wealth that is being presented now, this variety, this
wonderful variety of viewpoint, this burgeoning, expanding marketplace of ideas.
With your more modern communications this is what is really opening up the
world, just as a previous Renaissance came about when more and more of the
world's fundamental religious texts were for the first time being printed so
that the middle class folks could afford a copy of the Bible, or the Koran, or
the Upanishads. When all these religious texts could be printed they were no
longer the exclusive possession of an ecclesiastical cast. This led directly to
the Renaissance and, if you are familiar, led to quite a contention like
some famous examples of the early scientists conflicting with orthodoxy, and
then were either burned at the stake or put under house arrest to be examined by
the Inquisition because they were daring to proclaim as fact certainly
demonstrable things that went against orthodoxy. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>So
this is the essence of a Renaissance, a rebirth, an expansion of shared
knowledge, and it can't help but conflict with any kind of orthodoxy that is
founded upon a deliberate obscuration of some fundamental facts. As Mother
Spirit said, some of the long established religions and political organizations,
the nation states of the world are now having their populations demanding more
freedom, freedom of expression so they can communicate directly with each other.
And for all the unsettled nature of this conflict we ask you to see the enormous
outburst of individual creativity that is coming about, first of all because
folks have greater access to each other. But then also as some of the pretension
of these orthodox positions; some of these pretensions are seen through with an
increasing transparency. Another part of the equation of this balance, this
shift of power, is that individuals are thrown back upon themselves more and
more, especially all the individuals who depended upon a certain kind of blind
belief in some system, some political party, some orthodoxy, are suddenly faced
with having to decided for themselves what is true and what is
not. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Here again Mother Spirit and I can only advise and encourage you
always and in every situation like this when you yourself are confronted with
some startling new facts, especially if they are challenging some of your
longest held beliefs, always ask yourself: what is true here. You need to
acquire the ability to assess things in and of themselves regardless of their
origin. The origin of some particular fact will always be part of it, certainly,
but you can trust your own inner sense of evaluation to examine and evaluate
something in and of itself--which is what Mother Spirit and I have suggested you
do with our lessons all along. Evaluate what we say with how it rings true
within you, whether you feel we or anyone else is encouraging you to go ahead
and examine what we say from all different points of view. Compare us to
anything else you care to, to all of what you've known
before.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Be you own, independent person) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This is what these times are calling upon you: to be ever more your own
person, to not only know what you believe, what you accept as fact, as true, as
meaningful, but even beyond that: why you do. How do you know something is true?
Do you know its opposite? You're faced with a plethora of viewpoints. Your
society now is going through some very tumultuous economic times, and yet you
are faced with economists, professional men who can totally contradict each
other. In such a situation we recommend you just stay open, and so not only know
what you agree, shall we say, with one school of thought more than others, but
why you do. What are the conflicting points of view? There's no limit, my
children, to what your mind can absorb and understand.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This is what is required as the world progresses, as the world matures
and grows out of its infancy of depending upon others to be some kind of
life-long parents and tell them what to do. And this is happening. Mother Spirit
and I can see an enormous glow, an enormous spiritual glow as you look around
your world and can truly believe that those totalitarian forms of government are
truly diminishing. More and more you are having true democracies and republican
forms of government all over the world. Since one of the most fundamental forms
of warfare has always been the seizure of land; ever since the end of the Second
World War and shortly thereafter, the various boundaries of the counties of the
world have been more and more stabilized. There’s not been the raw warfare
simply for the seizure of territory. And still with almost half the world in a
state of relative illiteracy, the more modern forms of telecommunications are
enabling even illiterate people to converse and, as you say, keep up with the
news both on the local and international level. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>So
welcome all these peace dividends, all this decentralization of authority, all
this individualization and localization of human life. We have to disagree
somewhat with the old saying that to be born in interesting times is a kind of
curse, though we realize it's a humorous, mock-cynical kind of thing. We say
rather, realize just how blessed you are to be living in such a tumultuous
times. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>So
right in your meditations, think about these things. Think about the necessity
for what is happening. There is truly an inexorable planetary evolution taking
place, catching up with all your neighboring planets that weren't so
disenfranchised from Mother Spirit's and my more divine ways. The world is truly
experiencing a rebirth of wonder and an extension of freedom, a feeling more and
more of mutual respect and honoring everyone's unique
personality. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Welcome to the Renaissance, my dears. Now if there are any questions
or comments.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Student: Yes, Michael, this is David. I was listening to a commentator
reciting a letter received from Japan from someone who went through the
devastating earthquake and tsunami there, and she starts off the letter by
saying how lovely it is to peel away the non-essentials and to come from a place
of pure instinct and intuition and the desire to care not only for oneself but
also for those in need around her. And I think that's what's going on, the
peeling away of the non-essentials--if we're open to doing so. She also
mentioned how people are now helping each other, being a part of each other’s’
lives out of necessity, and are also grateful for being a part of each other’s
lives in this moment of devastation. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>She said this is how it used to be many years ago where people had their
doors open and people would come in and out and share and stuff. She also
noticed how because there's no cars how quiet it is at night, like it used to
be; how she could see the stars where before, because of the smog and factory
smoke, she could barely see the stars. Everything is so pristine and alive and
alert. She also even commented on how there are people who have nothing,
completely nothing, they lost everything, and then there are some who able to
put out their laundry and futons to dry. And then there's another person walking
their dog, and there's people sitting around a fire having tea and talking about
what's going on and what to do next, and living in the moment. Then she walked
back to her shack and someone left food for her and something to drink, and she
doesn't know who left it. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>But this is getting back to our, in a sense, peeling away our
non-essentials. And you mentioned individuality; I think you also are expressing
the responsibility for our individuality, for our awareness of the greater
picture of all this, that yes, we are individuals and we have the ability to tap
into this innate wisdom, the wisdom is of our Father. We’re able to share this
wisdom and live this wisdom. So that's what really struck me, the way she
embraced the idea of peeling away the non-essentials, and what's important and
what isn't. And that's what I think is going on. So: thank
you.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Reactions to catastrophe)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL: Yes, my son. Isn’t it an ironic shame that sometimes it takes a
devastation to allow individuals, to give them the freedom to be nice. (Student:
To be human) Well, unfortunately a kind of materialism is all too human, as
least on this planet. You've gone several hundred thousand years now without
some high spiritual being literally on the surface, for most planets do not go
through such an extended period of warfare that requires such a concentration of
authority. Think of your Second World War and the millions of people who
perished not only directly by the warfare but just by being displaced and
starving to death or dying of exposure. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Consider the enormous materialism you use as a way of judging, a way of
evaluating your life. That pure materialism is such a fraud, you notice, when
all of a sudden so many of your material possessions are suddenly gone. It
almost takes this to realize then the value of this living body you have, these
fantastic senses you have just to appreciate the quiet, and how marvelous the
stars can be, what it means to sit beside an open fire with a few close friends.
The trick is realizing that while at the same time you are a physical
being--it's almost a hallmark of a human being, you are as well a spiritual
being--to have a personality, an unchanging, potentially eternal core to your
being. Yet here you are in this body, and you're depending upon this body for
consciousness itself, for experience. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>As
long as you are both it's necessary to have an orientation towards
all-inclusiveness and to be able to get that sense of proportion, that
realization that, past certain necessities such as food and shelter, the things
which add to your soul, the things you will carry into eternity, are literally
each other, these other human beings with whom you share life. To be aware of
that fact, to truly appreciate each other, does not always call for this
catastrophe. You can choose to devote your life to each other. You can choose to
have this as your main source of entertainment and enjoyment. And there is also
an irony here insofar as the very technological devices that put you in greater
and greater communication with each other through your Twitters and your blogs
and your Facebook and all that sort of communication; if you are not careful you
can raise whole generations who are missing the eyeball-to-eyeball adventure of
meeting persons face to face, the enjoyment and wealth of
experience--personally.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>So
yes, my son, I agree one hundred percent with the letter you were quoting. It’s
just, like I say, a sad irony that sometimes it takes a catastrophe to remind
people of that sense of proportion between their material things and the other
human beings in their life.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Student: Yeah, there's a sense of balance that we keep things at an even
keel so to speak, and when one hears like you say materialism, or greed, or
self-deification, gets out of balance with spirit, then these kinds of things
happen unfortunately. And like you say it's unfortunate that people have to go
through such consternation and anxiety and scraping by with nothing—losing
everything to have that—if they are open to doing that. There are some who just
can’t handle it and go shoot people, or go into addiction, or commit suicide. So
even in those moments people have the responsibility of how they act. Maybe one
more thing you can comment on. I'm wondering what true security is. I'm tired of
hearing stupid, fear-driven statements from our
leaders.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(The real and the ideal)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL: Yes, my son. You've been here so many years, you recall our
lessons on the human condition, how we seem to have one foot on the dock and one
foot on the boat and always caught between the real and ideal, and the
proportions, a sense of proportions there because you do need both. You have to
have some real sense of what is true as of this moment, and you need to have a
good sense of history of how this situation came about. At the same time, by
tuning in to your self and allowing those spiritual influences within you to
speak of the way to go, the way to increase the happiness and well-being of
everyone--those ideals; you're lost if you try to live in either one of these
exclusively. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Another phrase from the Urantia book to keep in mind is the fact
everybody starts out from scratch. Every child that is born into the world has
to be civilized, what Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were objecting to so severely.
Consider that statement that the endowing of immature, imperfect beings, as you
all start out; the endowing of these immature, imperfect beings with even a
relative degree of freedom leads inevitably to tragedy. No one gets everything
right all the time to begin with. What you see when you look at all these
individuals you encounter, and try to see them as individuals, then you see
distinct personalities struggling to learn, struggling to understand what's
happening to them.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Your world is at such a stage now where, because you haven't had a
continuous spiritual presence, a distinct personal being, or even an Adam and
Eve, a material Son and Daughter now for forty thousand years or so, you see
these extremes on your world. While you are living in outer space, and you're
exchanging living organs from one body to another, you still have Stone Age
tribes. You have almost all stages of civilization still existing on the planet.
And so you have very primitive warfare. Not too many years ago you had a World
War where millions and millions souls perished in the most ungodly, nigh
unbelievable ways. Think of bombing large cities and those condemned to, shall
we say, die slowly of a fractured leg, buried under rubble, the kind of torture
you wouldn’t even think of inflicting on another.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>This is where you are, my son. This is the state of the world. You have,
again, nigh incomprehensible concentrations of power in your armed forces. How
much of the world's resources are wrapped up in, say, one aircraft carrier? But
that is the real, and you can just do your best to embrace it, understand it,
and know it well. At the same time you personally can just do your best to lean
toward those ideals you hold. Keep one foot in each one, my son. It's the only
way for you to contribute what you yourself are able to create.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>So
keep your heart open. Keep your ability to feel. Keep striving to understand,
first of all, just what is real, and how did it get this way. Because that is an
infinity, is it not? (Yes) And yet at the same time keep striving toward those
ideals, first in your own day to day living to get some sense of what's
possible, but then also as you are able to transform your own life: to be this
synthesis, this creative result day by day. For you too, my son, are still a bit
immature and imperfect. But that is the starting point of all of this. You have
all eternity ahead of you.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Student: Thank you. I am committed, as you know. It is
amazing.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>MICHAEL: There's a lot of enormous power, in a sense, up in the air. All
these world leaders with such enormous power as their responsibility cannot just
suddenly drop it. You have to slowly, ever so slowly and carefully back it down.
There’s so much at stake.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>(Living men and women) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>All you can conceive of: societies, and economics, and just raw military
power: it all ultimately resides in living men and women. There is no debt owed
anyone in all your most fantastically elaborate financial systems that does not
come back to some living person. All your public, governmental organizations,
and all your arguments now between public and private realms: it's all living
people. All the laws, the thousands of books full of laws, and contracts, and
agreements: it's all in the hands and the minds and in the hearts and souls of
living people. That's the reality, and all these living souls must themselves
work out the way forward. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Yes, there is a kind of impersonal planetary evolution pushing within
each one, for each individual, whether they know it or not, has these great
spiritual influences doing their best to whisper, to entice, to tease, to
suggest their next ideal step to take. Yet every one of these human beings has
their own relative free will. That is your world, my son. That's what it is. And
it is a magnificent, magnificent undertaking that was essentially God's choice
to begin with: this idea of individual spiritual beings, personal beings, each
with their own unique personality and outlook, realization, and life to live.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Feel for that spiritual glow of all these individuals who cannot be in
any way summed up. (Michael laughs) That's the World Soul, my son, and it's
truly an infinity to you. That's why Mother Spirit and I humbly acknowledge your
creativity. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>So: carry on, and be in my peace. Good
evening. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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