Posted on Facebook by Samoa Lualima
The Edgar Cayce readings explain that every soul came into being because God desired loving companionship. The soul is not an accidental part of creation. It is “a portion, an expression of God’s desire for companionship” (805-4). The purpose of soul development is therefore to become able to live consciously with God and express His qualities. The soul passes through many different experiences so that it may become “a fit companion” for the Divine realm of beauty, harmony and love (805-4).
Life on Earth is part of this preparation. Each earthly experience is like a lesson in a school. One reading says that every period of life may be compared to “a lesson, as a schooling for the purposes for which each soul-entity enters an earth experience” (1005-12). Some lessons come through happiness and success, while others come through disappointment, hardship and uncertainty. Each can contribute something to the soul if we face it honestly and seek its spiritual meaning.
God does not send the soul into life without hope or guidance. “Each soul is precious in the eyes of the Father, in the eyes of the Maker, in the heart of God” (531-1). God does not value one soul more than another, for “there IS no respect of persons” (531-1). Differences in position, wealth, education or reputation do not determine spiritual worth. What matters is how we use the blessings, opportunities and abilities entrusted to us.
The experiences of life are best understood as opportunities. The readings say, “the experiences, if we will gain that deeper comprehension of same, are but opportunities” (805-4). A difficult person may provide an opportunity to develop patience. A disappointment may teach faith. A position of responsibility may teach justice and humility. An unexpected change may help us release our dependence upon material security and trust God more completely.
Soul development depends upon what we do with these opportunities. It is not enough merely to pass through an experience. We must decide how we will respond to it. “Each study of each lesson then adds some phase of development for the soul” (1005-12). The lesson becomes part of us when we understand it, apply it and allow it to change how we live.
Experience teaches us how to apply what we know. One reading calls experience “the dear teacher,” but also says that it is “the lesson through which each and everyone gains that ability to APPLY knowledge or information gained” (779-15). Knowledge by itself does not develop the soul. We may understand kindness intellectually, but we truly learn it when we remain kind under pressure. We may believe in forgiveness, but the lesson becomes real when we forgive someone who has hurt us.
This is why the readings repeatedly emphasise application. “It is not what we know that counts but what we do about that we know, in our dealings with our fellow man” (1005-12). Spiritual knowledge should influence the way we speak, work, make decisions and treat people. If knowledge makes us proud, critical or selfish, it has been misapplied. The reading gives a direct warning: “For what brought dissension? Knowledge misapplied!” (1005-12).
The soul develops through relationships because every contact reveals something about our inner nature. Life is described as “a continuity of experiences from one sojourn, one association, one with another” (531-1). Each contact is separate, yet all are connected. Our behaviour in the home, workplace, community and spiritual life gradually forms the character of the soul.
True spiritual development requires integrity. Our words, emotions and actions should agree with one another. An outwardly spiritual attitude is not enough if it does not come from the sincere desire of the inner self. The readings state, “he that is false to himself will rarely be otherwise with his fellow man” (531-1). We must therefore be honest about our motives, weaknesses and desires. Soul growth begins when we stop pretending and allow God’s truth to reveal what needs to change within us.
The reading offers a powerful test of personal integrity. Every soul should live in such a way “that it will not be afraid to stand on the corner and watch self pass by” (531-1). In other words, we should be able to observe our own actions without shame or self-deception. Would we respect the person we see? Are we fair in business, gentle at home and truthful when no one is watching? These questions help us understand what our experiences are building within the soul.
Peace, justice and mercy should form the foundation of our relationships. When our dealings with others are not based upon these spiritual principles, the results cannot be good. The reading teaches that our relationships must be “founded in peace and justice and mercy” (531-1). This applies not only to public or business life but also to the home, where our true attitudes are often most clearly revealed.
The qualities that show genuine soul development are simple and practical: “Peace, joy, fellowship, love,” together with kindness toward our associates each day (531-1). A spiritually developed person does not need to appear impressive. Growth may be seen in a gentle answer, fair treatment, dependable friendship and willingness to support someone who is struggling. Such actions manifest the God-force through ordinary human life.
This daily expression of God is described as the highest kind of service. The readings say that giving oneself “as the channel of experience” through which God may be better manifested to His people “is the highest service in all” (760-4). We become channels of God when His patience, mercy and love can pass through us to another person. In this way, the coming of the Lord becomes an inner reality as Christ’s nature is manifested through us.
Kindness is one of the clearest expressions of this spiritual service. The instruction is wonderfully direct: “Just be kind, just be gentle” (805-4). These qualities bring “contentment and peace and happiness” because they place our lives in harmony with spiritual law (805-4). Like produces like. The spirit we give to others gradually becomes the atmosphere in which our own soul lives.
The familiar teaching, “As ye would that others should do to you, then do ye even so to them,” is presented as a spiritual law (805-4). We should not wait for others to treat us well before we become loving. The soul develops when we choose the spirit we wish to express, even when the behaviour of another person makes that choice difficult.
Selfishness and the misuse of power move the soul in the opposite direction. Envy, conflict, taking advantage of the weak and seeking praise bring “doubt, fear, consternation” into the mind (531-1). These attitudes disturb both relationships and the inner life. Spiritual power is not the ability to control others. It is the ability to control our own selfish desires and use our strength to protect, encourage and serve.
The readings also teach that the soul must learn from experiences beyond the limits of ordinary waking consciousness. Each individual seeks experiences in order “to become aware of that being present or existent in their OWN experience” (538-28). An idea may remain distant until it is personally experienced. Once it has entered our awareness, it becomes “a portion of the whole of that entity” (538-28). The soul grows by making truth part of its own consciousness.
This development is influenced by free will and the ideal we choose. The value of an experience “depends upon the choice or the application of self in keeping with the ideal” (1005-12). If our ideal is selfish success, we will interpret experiences according to personal advantage. If our ideal is Christ, we will ask how each experience can help us become more loving, truthful, patient and useful to others.
Spiritual principles become stronger through use. The readings compare this to mathematics, which becomes more active in our understanding when it is practised. In the same way, spiritual laws become real “when there is in the experience its application as to its fellow man” (1005-12). Faith grows through faithful action. Patience grows through practising patience. Love develops through loving someone in a real and practical way.
The greatest conflict often occurs within the soul itself. One reading says, “the greater conflict ever to each soul is between its own self’s experiences as compared to that it HAS experienced” (541-1). Part of us may desire comfort and ease, while another part knows that truth requires effort, sacrifice or change. Soul development takes place when we recognise this conflict and choose the higher spiritual direction.
Through all these experiences, there remains a “thread of gold” connecting the soul with God (805-4). Even when we feel confused or spiritually distant, the Father continues calling the soul toward companionship with Him. The connection may be hidden by fear, selfishness or discouragement, but it is not destroyed. Every sincere desire for truth, love and goodness helps us become aware of that relationship again.
Christ is the great example of how the soul should meet the experiences of life. He showed patience in suffering, mercy toward the weak and faithfulness in the face of rejection. The reading reminds us of His assurance: “Lo, I am with thee always—ALWAYS!” (1158-5). Soul development does not mean that we must struggle alone. Christ accompanies us through both shadow and light.
As we become aware of His presence, we can also help others feel that they are not alone. The readings say that through our thoughts, prayers and actions, we may sometimes “stand in His stead” because He abides with us (845-6). A reassuring word, a gentle smile or a patient act may become the means through which another person experiences the comfort of Christ.
This is especially important when people are suffering or afraid. The instruction is, “Let thy light, then, so shine among others that they, TOO, as thou, may take hope” (845-6). Our light is not shown through spiritual pride or an appearance of perfection. The reading humorously explains that spiritual progress does not mean “that wings have begun to sprout, nor haloes to settle about the head” (845-6). It means becoming a source of courage, peace and hope in someone else’s life.
Small spiritual actions can have a much greater influence than we realise. “As the little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” our gentleness, kindness, patience and endurance can help awaken others to the presence of the risen Lord (1158-5). We may not always see the result, but a quiet act of love can continue working in another person’s heart long after the moment has passed.
Past hurts must also be released if the soul is to move forward. The reading advises us to look to Christ, who helps us “put away those little hurts, those little slurs” that have surrounded us (845-6). Holding tightly to every offence keeps the soul tied to the painful experience. Forgiveness does not say that the wrong was acceptable; it allows the soul to receive the lesson without continuing to carry the bitterness.
Patience is therefore essential to soul development. Christ’s message is, “Be patient—be patient, my child; for in patience know ye thine own soul” (1158-5). Patience gives us time to see beyond the immediate pain and recognise what God may be developing within us. Through patience, fear may become faith, weakness may become strength and suffering may become compassion.
The soul’s journey is ultimately a movement toward unity with God. The deepest “purpose, the desire of the soul itself is to be at an at-onement with Him” (1158-5). Every experience can serve this purpose when it is met in the spirit of truth and love. Work, family, disappointment, friendship, illness, service and prayer may all become parts of one spiritual journey.
Soul development, then, is not separate from daily life. It happens through the way we use knowledge, make choices, respond to difficulties and treat those around us. As we choose kindness, practise truth, release resentment and serve others, “the EXPERIENCE of life becomes at-one with Him” (805-4). The experiences of the soul become holy when they awaken us to God’s presence and help us express His love in the world.
EDGAR CAYCE READINGS
In every age, in every clime, is the attempt to manifest the God force as is manifest in each individual, and the giving of self as the channel of experience to that element that will give the better manifestation of same to His people, is the highest service in all. Then, study to show self approved unto Him, and the coming of the Lord will be sure and certain within the confines of the individual self, for as same is manifested through self, same becomes acceptable unto Him, for as we are seen and known of men, as the way is the manifestation of Him, of Him we are known.
760-4
In analyzing those experiences of the entity in the earth's sojourns, and those periods when there has been through the mental the application of experiences in sojourns in the earth's environ - or this solar system, these will be found to be varied.
That there have been periods when the entity has not given credence nor credit where credit is due, from the experience of the entity in its present sojourn as well as in others, is evinced by the attitude of the entity in the present as to his relationships with those of spiritual natures. That the attitude, too, is an ASSUMED one - rather than the innate cry for expression of the inner self - is also evinced by the activities respecting same, and the spoken word that does not coordinate nor tally with that the body in its emotion, in its relationships, has experienced and does experience; as will be seen from that which may be given respecting the entity's activities in the earth. For, he that is false to himself will rarely be otherwise with his fellow man.
Then, in giving that which is of a constructive nature in the experience of this entity - either from the astrological or from the purely mental development of the entity in this present experience - it would be well that there be builded for the entity something of the background that may be as a point of contact for the entity, in its seeking, to reason from.
(Another paragraph, yes) [GD was wondering, here, if she should make a new paragraph.] The varied experiences in the entity's sojourns, then, are as the variations in the experience of a body, mind and soul in its dealings with its fellow man as individuals, as groups. And the dealings with the social life of the body. And these are judged by all active minds from the standards to which they as individuals have given credence or allegiance. And while these associations or divisions of the life depend upon or influence one another, they are entirely separate.
So are those experiences of a soul, for the body is made up - the physical body is made up - of mind, body-physical and soul. The mind may be founded in spirituality and thus have its concepts and precepts founded in that which is everlasting, or they (the precepts and concepts) may be founded in materiality and thus be only carnal or material in that which may be builded in the experience of any soul or body during an individual sojourn.
That these concepts or precepts may vary is seen by that which is drawn as an example for the entity as to that life in the business or commercial world and that life in the home. It is not drawing from something, or on something, that the body is not acquainted with. If the activities of the entity or body in the relationships mentally and materially with his associates in a commercial world are not founded on justice, and an equality of the activities of both parties to any associations, then questions arise. To be sure, the entity has acted in its experience in the present sojourn, in many periods or instances, such that he has questioned himself as well as having others to question his own activities. But unless these have the appearance of being founded, and unless their basic principles are founded, in peace and justice and mercy, the fruits of such an association are NOT well. The same in the home; though the status here may be somewhat varied - unless these are to be founded on principles and standards that are beyond reproach in self, and ideals are set as to what relationships are to be. So in Life. For, Life - as man may find same - is a continuity of experiences from one sojourn, one association, one with another, even as the varied individuals that one may meet in his commercial life. Each contract, each contact, each individual association depends one upon another. Yet are separate. Yet are SO correlated that it depends upon what the body DOES ABOUT SAME as to whether he makes a success or a failure! Not only in the eyes of a commercial world but in the consciousness of self. For, each soul-mind must live with itself, and what that soul-mind, that body, does ABOUT its associations with its fellow man depends upon what the body thinks of itself, considers itself, in relation to the Whole.
So does it behoove every soul to so live and so act, in its contacts with its fellow man in its business and commercial life, that it will not be afraid to stand on the corner and watch self pass by - in relationship to its activities with its fellow man.
That, too, may be said in such a relationship in the home. So in the inner life; as the home, the relationships there have ever been as a representation of the relationships of the soul to the continuity of life, or Life itself. For, if the ideals and the principles and the basis of Life in its relationship there are not founded on idealism, rather than ideas, on the spiritual relationships rather than material, it too must fail.
So, this may be taken then as the basis from which there may be given this body as to what it has done with its experiences in the earth, as its life has been projected into the various manifested places and forms and manners for its own soul development; for, if the body, the soul will but accept same, HIS God - every soul's God - has not willed that any soul shall be lost. For, each soul is precious in the eyes of the Father, in the eyes of the Maker, in the heart of God, one the same as another. There IS no respect of persons. There is the respect of those that use His blessings, His opportunities, His privileges, granted to the sons of men in the attributes of their minds, bodies, souls, as related to their fellow man.
Just as does the individual in his associations with his fellow man build for himself a business relation such that the next individual is glad to deal with him, speaks well of him in his relations with his fellow man, and that his relationships are ever constructive. So is truth; so is the heart of God, as it seeks men - MEN - everywhere - that they, in their relationships with their fellow man, may use the attributes of the spirit of truth. And these be they: Peace, joy, fellowship, love, preferring that there be harmony in just being kind to thy associates day by day, showing fellowship, and worthy of being called "a friend" of those that may be oppressed in any form or manner by the material things of man, or in earth, and showing forth that ye love thy fellow man, that ye honor him who leads thee in that manner in keeping with the fruits or the attributes of the spirit.
When those are used that make for envyings or strife, or that any would lord himself over his fellow man, or that the advantage would be taken of those that are weak - either in their mental or their physical bodies, or in their judgments among men, or in their weaknesses for the desire of self-praise or self-laudation, these must bring doubt, fear, consternation in the experience of the mental bodies of those that do such - and disease, disruption, disorders of every nature in the physical bodies of such.
531-1
When the consciousness is laid aside, there is that which takes place much in the same manner as the spring to an automatic curtain roller. This, then, is able to be pulled down or raised up with the release of the spring. SOME call this going into the unknown. SOME call this spiritual, or spirit, communication. Some call it the ability to gain the force of the activities of the fourth dimension - which is NEARER correct than any explanation that may be given. For it is the plane that is of the inter-between, or that of the borderland - which all individuals occupy through that period of gaining consciousness of that sphere they themselves occupy, until such a period or such a time that there is that joining together of such forces as may again bring that individual entity into the realm of physical experience or being.
Now each individual seeks experiences, see? Each individual must experience conditions to become aware of that being present or existent in their OWN experience, or that becomes a portion of the whole of that entity.
Then, know, whenever there is the wholehearted desire of all seeking such, there may be the perfect action of the roller or spring, or there may be the perfect application of the information that may be gained.
538-28
Then, what influences such a journey, such an advent of the soul from the unseen into materiality? Development of the soul that it may take its place, through the lessons gained in physical experience, in those classes or realms of soul activity in an infinite world - among those that have passed in their activity through the various realms; seeking then (as that which first called every soul and body into experience) that of companionship. Hence we have as much hereditary and environmental forces in soul's experience (or the developed soul to such an experience) as we have in the law of the earth, as to that which is hereditary from the parentage of a body - and the environs of the body, as to what is the trend of thought...
In the present there is the love of things that are easy, which arises from the harkenings of the inmost self; the love of those things that are true arises from that period also - and hence the two are often in conflict within self. O that all would know that the greater conflict ever to each soul is between its own self's experiences as compared to that it HAS experienced!
541-1
(Q) What would the Forces advise as the proper course for this body to pursue, under the present conditions and circumstances?
(A) As that as has been given. Take that offer as will facilitate the conditions of the entity's abilities as salesman, as workman, and at the same time gives the most time in the home, see? for through these channels this will work out to the best for the entity - for experience is often the dear teacher, yet experience is the lesson through which each and everyone gains that ability to APPLY knowledge or information gained.
779-15
That the soul - a portion, an expression of God's desire for companionship - might find expression, the souls of men and women came into being; that there might be that which would make each soul, then, as a fit companion for that realm. There is the necessity of fitting itself through the experiences of all phases and realms of existence, then; that it, the soul, may not cause disruption in the realm of beauty, harmony, strength of divinity in its companionships with that Creative Force.
Hence the experiences, if we will gain that deeper comprehension of same, are but opportunities; for in whatsoever state of consciousness one FINDS self, the awakening is from the desire of the Father that each soul shall continue to have ITS thread of gold that runs through each conscious force for its companionship with Him.
So the use or application of that in hand makes for the awareness within self of ITS, the soul's, relationships to the Creative Force...
First, look well into self as to what are or may be the promptings from within; knowing that each experience, each contact, may be builded - if it is prompted from the spirit of truth and love - as something that may be made worth while in the experience of self.
Then, in the dealings with the fellow man, and those opportunities that will and do present themselves through the soul's development in the interim and in the application of same in the earth in the present:
Just be kind, just be gentle, just make for those expressions of these in the dealings with the fellow man. And these bring contentment and peace and happiness that bespeak of that as He gave - which thou didst learn well; "As ye do unto others, so will it be done unto you. As ye would that others should do to you, then do ye even so to them."
For these are the laws. Like begets like. Judge not that ye be not judged. Keep thine own mind, thine own purpose, thine own desire in the nurture of the Lord of truth; and ye grow in grace, in knowledge, in understanding - and the EXPERIENCE of life becomes at-one with Him, and the PURPOSES of all become as a portion of that beauty which ye enjoy with the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, as ye enter into that glory with Him.
805-4
From the correlating of the experiences of the entity in Williamsburg-Jamestown, we find that which has been gained in its relationships to individuals; its way and manner of approach concerning same.
On the other hand, from the Roman experience we find an understanding of law as pertaining TO the relationships to ideals of political and spiritual natures.
As attained or gained from the Atlantean experience, we find the EXTREMES to which things, conditions, experiences of individuals may be brought; and these - as indicated the entity has CONQUERED, as it were, in this experience.
It is not intended to imply that wings have begun to sprout, nor haloes to settle about the head; yet these are conditions that are to be sought in the consciousness of self. For more and more, as the entity enters into those experiences as the guardian of the lives of individuals who under stress of various natures are called upon to give of their all in a service, there will come more and more the consciousness of His presence abiding near.
And when there is the call, and the answer in the call, "Be not afraid, it is I."
Let thy light, then, so shine among others that they, TOO, as thou, may take hope and know that thy redeemer liveth; and that He is mindful of the prayers of the children of men.
For He has promised not to leave any comfortless. And thou, in thy thought, in thy prayer, in thy activity, can oft stand in His stead; for He will abide with thee, even as He hath promised.
Lift up, look up, then, to Him, who hath shown thee the way to put away those little hurts, those little slurs that have oft encompassed thee. For it is in His strength, and in the courage of His promises, that there has come this abiding faith.
Then faint not in well-doing. For thou ART acceptable unto Him.
845-6
As to the application of those influences that have to do with an entity making for developments, it depends upon the choice or the application of self in keeping with the ideal - if the ideal then is of the Creative Forces that may bring into the experience the more and more awareness of the oneness of the soul, of the entity, to Creative Forces.
Hence as we find varied experiences in the entity's sojourn become more and more applicable in the experience of an entity, just as in the material-mental world the relationships to mathematics become more activative when same are used, or when there is in the experience its application as to its fellow man as regarding spiritual laws of which the entity is aware in the experience.
So as each entity enters the earth plane for experiences that may make for that awareness of the soul's unity or oneness with the Creative Forces as these are applied, so do the experiences in the earth become more and more a part of the ENTITY'S activity.
1005-12
As we find, it would be well here to give for the entity, as well as general information for those that seek to know more of how experiences in any individual sojourn may affect an entity or body in this particular experience in the earth.
Know that each sojourn or indwelling may be compared to that as ye have in your mental experience as a lesson, as a schooling for the purposes for which each soul-entity enters an earth experience; and why an entity under such environments came into that experience.
Each study of each lesson then adds some phase of development for the soul. And each merits then the opportunity; for it has been given as to the graciousness of the divine oneness in not willing that any soul should perish or lose sight of its identity or lose its hold upon those purposes for each soul's entrance into an experience.
Thus in the study of the activities of the entity previous to the periods of activity as ye would term the Christian era in Palestine, in Rome, in Sicily, in Athens; we find these are as human nature, the natural thing - or nature's expression.
For that which has been given man for his interpretation of the Creator is ever before him in the things about him that respond to the emotions; not mental or bodily emotions as having to do with some activity, but those deeper emotions or urges arising from those very influences that have and do become a part of the entity's experience as a growth, or an outgrowth of what each entity has done, does do, respecting its knowledge.
For what brought dissension? Knowledge misapplied!
Hence the wisdom of God; that surpasseth the understanding of man save in the meditations upon, or meetings within, his own divine self.
This is the lesson, this is the study that all that has been given is to point out. As the study of any individual experience is brought to the consciousness of an entity it becomes more applicable in the material experience of the entity at that time. Just as if there is a discussion of music or of sculpture or of the artist's brush in his depiction of any of the phases of human emotions, there may be discussed through the mental mind those studies, those meditations. But the applying of the principles of that being discussed becomes a portion of the entity and influences same in its relationships to its fellow man.
For as has been so aptly given oft, it is not what we know that counts but what we do about that we know, in our dealings with our fellow man. For as ye do it unto the least ye do it unto thy Maker.
For when honor or preference or thought is given a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, for SELF-glorification, it becomes not spiritual but temporal. But if such preference, such love, such honor is given that there is glorified the emotions of the knowledge "As I do it, I am doing it to my Maker and not for self," then the honor comes upon the individual soul and the growth, the new buds of hope, of life, are a part of such an entity.
So in the experiences of this entity in giving that which is so near, so dear to the heart of God, in that the entity was given the privilege, the opportunity - not alone of itself but for those purposeful opportunities - to use, to give, to spread the gospel of good tidings, as the entity did in its associations with those in authority politically and economically, so does the experience in the present - in the knowledge of its activities - become a part of the entity's being.
Much has been given as to the doubts and fears that arose in the mental experience of the entity during the experience or sojourn in that as a national association with those that were considered heathens, yet who by their practical application brought hope and the possibility, the opportunity for those that were afraid bodily yet imbued with the spirit of truth by that reflection of the Son, of the Holy One, the Holy Child who came as FEARLESS. Yet as is the experience of human nature in the present, to be doubted, to be fearful for the livelihood of the day, for the suffering that may be brought to loved ones, for the separations that might be brought about by those that considered it not - these have and do become then in a much modified form to be sure, yet just as piercing, just as questioning. For as the individual entity or soul becomes the more sensitive to the attunement of itself with divinity, the more the hurt there be.
Then for the moment, as the entity saw during those periods when there was a relating to same of that walk to Emmaus, when there was the conviction brought that this indeed was the son of a living God, so in the experiences in the present so oft those periods of conviction come in that those lives, those souls touched by the entity in its associations, in its activities, are indeed even as they in those experiences were CONVICTED not of themselves but by that as of a closer walk with LIFE itself!
So these become so much a part of the entity, yet owing to its relationships, its positions in those periods of activity when by the very companionship necessitated the journeying to other lands where less of the experiences had come into the hearts and minds of individuals, so the entity in its present experience finds, when having been touched by the holy light of the way and the Word and the Christ-Consciousness, and it comes in contact with the various groups (though these may be presented by just around the corner, or just another meeting), and sees the groping and feels that longing in the hearts of those acquaintances or those that are merely seen as other groups seeking much of that as was the experience during that life or that sojourn as Ruth - these become, and will more and more, as indicated, upon the finger-tips of the experience of the entity, as would be termed in the modern parlance.
Yet hold thou fast, O Child of Grace and Promise, to those tenets - not as tenets but as living truths, that it IS through the grace and the gift of thy Brother, thy Father-God, thy consciousness within self is being awakened and aroused, that life in its expressions and manifestations becomes as sweet savour, the incense of the Lord in the lives of individuals!
And hold thou fast to those truths as ye gained in the greater knowledge from that conviction of the walk to Emmaus.
And as ye saw in those intents and purposes when thy elder brother James became as the head of what is termed the church; not as that YE understand in thy present surroundings as an elder, a teacher, a minister. For how has it just been given? He, thy brother James, was exalted to the position of the leader because the HONOR was to Jesus, the Christ, to Him to whom all honor and all glory are due; to whom all patience, all suffering, all humbleness became so much a portion of His demonstration in Life - and for which He only asked that we as His be a part of, that He may be strengthened in the earth. For to those of the earth hath He given the message, "Lo, I am with thee always - ALWAYS!" To YOU, to ALL who have named and do name His Name is given that charge, "Feed my sheep, care for my lambs." And even as in thy activities when in the face of those in authority and with the changing scenes in Rome with the death of that one who had given and made it possible for the closer associations of His representatives with those in political and religious authority in thine own land, then with those changes came the checking up on those that had become imbued with the spirit of these new teachings. Yet thy light was not hid under a bushel, but the quietness, the gentleness, the patience that was shown by thine activities even in the courts of Bacchus and those revelries that were brought to bear that there might be a satisfying and a gratifying of the material appetites of men and women during those periods that to thee were debaucheries. As ye looked on these and saw not the vileness but the flow of those influences of wine and strong drink that excited the passions of men, rather did ye see the blood of thy Brother SPILLED in a wanton manner that the earth might know that He lived not in vain! For those that honor, those that love Him even as He loved the world, would give, do give their own heart's blood that the world may know that He LIVES and is at the right hand of the Father; that ye - yea, thy brethren, thy friends, thy enemies - may have an advocate before that Throne of mercy, pleading the cause of the wayward, hearing the cry of those that are persecuted, and saying "Be patient - be patient, my child; for in patience know ye thine own soul and become aware that I am able to sustain thee, even though ye walk through the valleys and in the shadows of death." For death hath no sting, it hath no power over those that know the Resurrection, even as thou hast seen and as thou hast known, as thou hast heard, how the Resurrection brought to the consciousness of man that power that God hath given to man, that may reconstruct, resuscitate, even every atom of a physically sick body, that may resurrect even every atom of a sin-sick soul, may resurrect the soul that it lives on and on in the glory of a resurrected, a regenerated Christ in the souls and hearts of men!
As ye saw these even in Rome through those periods of lasciviousness, as ye saw in Athens in the unwarranted flow of blood for those of thine own peoples because they held to that, whether it is right that "I should listen to the voice of God or harken to the voices of men."
Then farther and farther away do ye grow from the voices of men and closer and closer do ye come to the voice of the Christ in the lives of those that are weary with the toils of the physical, that are sick with the doubts of the spiritual through the mental activities of the worldly-wise. And as ye give that gentle smile of assurance and of understanding, even as He looked upon thy mother and thy friends and gave, "Behold the woman," and to thy cousin and to thy friend gave, "To you she is given. Be to her a son in my stead." And as ye are to those about thee in thy daily life the mother, even as in thy associations the soft word that turneth away the wrath of those that are worldly-wise or that are in fear because of the doubts of their bodily needs, ye bring to thyself more and more those consciousnesses of thine experiences in that atmosphere of thine experience as Ruth.
For as it brought, even as the name implies, HOPE and new life, YE may bring - and ye DO bring in this thine experience just that in the experiences and into the lives of many. And as the little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, so do thy gentlenesses, thy kindnesses, thy longsufferings, thy patience, bring into this world that for which He gave His life, His hope - into thy hands and to thy friends' hands, and into those that have named His Name, the POWER to bring to the consciousnesses of others that awakening to the glories of a risen Lord.
But ye seek thy specifics.
Ready for questions.
[E.C. continuing:] Much again might be given in this vein of those varied experiences. As in Sicily ye came upon those activities that were from a peoples that were so bound by that of tradition that only those who were of the household of promise through the lineal descendents that had not been crossed by the blood of those that had been heathens might be saved; that even pointed to thee that THOU - as a blood sister of His - had mingled thy blood with the Romans.
And yet as in thine reasoning that God is God of the just, and hath no patience with mere rote, hath no patience with that which is only of such and such line - but EVERYWHERE calleth, "Whosoever will, let him take of the cup of my son and learn of me. For thou, too, art my son if ye will but drink and be renewed in body, in mind, in soul to the purposefulnesses of that Son's entering - that ALL men, EVERYWHERE, might know the love the Father hath for the children of men, and that the Father is not the respecter of persons but rather as He hath given to the women of the Saracens, the crumbs indeed of the Master's table are not cast out but are become even as He, the head of the corner, the keystone to the building of that life that is aware of its relationship to the Godhead, that is aware of how ye treat thy brother and the god in him - ye know and experience the God-love in thyself."
And as ye hold this or that as mere rote or as being endowed, ye set a barrier. For He made Himself of no estate, though He came into a world created by His very breath. The WORLD knew Him not, but YE have known Him - ye KNOW Him; for thou hast seen, thou hast tasted, thou hast heard, thou hast felt, thou hast proclaimed, do proclaim, the love of God through the Christ, even Jesus the man, thy Brother!
And as ye questioned and were questioned again in Athens, where there was given the proclaiming to all the forces and powers of nature that then ruled over this or that portion of man's experience - whether as the god of the storm or of the rain or of the sunshine or of the harvest or of the winter or of the elements about the earth, ye saw, ye heard, ye were questioned even HOW the Holy Spirit upon thy Mother's body was quickened to that influence to which there came conception, that is unknown and only a myth in the gods of the ancients or of the unseen forces. And why not these be worshipped then as well as this unseen force that acted as ye claim, then?
From the very foundations of thy faith then ye were questioned, but ye stood steadfast; for as ye had heard and a ye proclaimed - and as is in the experience of man even today - that which to man with ALL his knowledge is impossible, to God is but as the breath or the wind in its passing, yet in its passing may quicken to each atom. For as each cell in each atom of the body KNOWS its purpose, if it is imbued with the spirit of LIFE, yet knoweth naught if it is condemned by the desires of flesh only to its mere rote of activity - yet quickened by the Spirit bringeth, even as in thine experience, that of the unnatural to the natural. Hence as the body grew, as the body was held by the mother in its whole purpose of "Thy handmaid, O God; use me - Let my cup be filled with Thy purpose, Thy desire, because of Thy love for man, that I may be the channel, a channel, through which the world may know; though I be doubted, though I be spurned by those that are worldly-wise and say all manners of things."
So thou in thine experience in the present, as ye may be questioned as to thy gentleness to this or that experience of individual activities, become aware of those experiences through which ye passed, even there - as not only the sister in the flesh of Jesus but as the helpmeet to a heathen; yea, a Roman! Yet the foolishness of the world and of the earth is the wisdom of God! Just as the foolishness of man may be turned into the wisdom of the ages, the wisdom of God. For the wisdom is indeed to be willing to be led by the Spirit of GOD rather than to be guided by thine own concept OF paralleling or classifying or reasoning.
For the worldly-wise oft destroy themselves, as ye saw among the leaders of thine own peoples, as ye saw among those in authority among thine own associates. And these ye see oft. But even as He, thy Brother; though He wept bodily over Jerusalem, though He sighed with the very blood of His body in Gethsemane, He smiled upon the Cross - as He smiles upon thee and gives, "I am with thee; be not afraid, it is I - even I who AM the Life, who AM the Way, who AM the Word!"
And in Him, (and "In me," as He gave) ye can put thy trust. "Were it not so, I would have told you. I prepare a place for those that are faithful, are patient, that they - too - may be with me as from the foundations of the earth. Ye have been, even as I, in and out - in the shadow, in the light; yet the purpose, the desire of the soul itself is to be at an at-onement with Him."
1158-5
