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(From vol.11, script 142, of The Soulcraft Scripts) Dearly Beloved in Mortality:
There is in every soul the capacity for a keen self-appraisal. But in no two persons does it manifest the same. Furthermore, the man is rare in whom the appraisal of self is exactly the same as that accorded him by what he terms the “world”. This difference in self-appraisal makes for queer and often influential conditions in the otherwise normal person. It leads him to believe that he is greater or lesser in degrees of attainments than those about him will concede for him. This reacts on him either as a criticism of himself or a criticism of society. Always it confuses him. And this confusion causes malformations in his deportment toward his fellows. In nine cases out of ten such a person, who is merely confused by what is proper and accurate in self-evaluation, will be labeled an erotic. The term is viciously unfair. So-called Eroticism is not what the world accredits at all. The "erotic" soul, unable to determine what a true evaluation of himself may be, goes on from blunder to blunder. Erotic people, on the whole, are quite normal people in most respects, but they have a natural inclination for estimating themselves by their beliefs in what they could accomplish under ideal conditions instead of estimating themselves by what is possible for them to accomplish in the world as they find it. People who criticize themselves overmuch, and are therefore labeled Introspectives, are uniformly doing something which the world too little grasps. They are striving to hoist themselves by their own bootstraps in Karma, as it were, instead of using the stairs or ladders provided by society. Now what do we mean when we say a person is either introspective or erotic? 'We mean that he uses his present or past attainments as the measuring-stick for that which he exhibits. He does not accredit that the true function of the world may be to accost him on occasions and demand: Who are you, anyway? What excuse have you for living in the world? What does your particular existence amount to, and how do you know? Are you estimating yourself and your value to the universe by actual performance in relation to others, or are you estimating yourself by what you dream of performing in the privacy of your own mental and spiritual processes?" The supersensitive person is usually the latter type of erotic, to a degree. He is forever comparing himself to himself, instead of comparing himself to the world as he finds it filled with similar human beings of all shades and degrees of exhibiting. In this he is negating his true worldly mission, or the objectives and lessons which he came into life to gain. Now it is not always possible for people to attain their full life ends. But one and all can admit this: that they have come into the mortal arena to profit from what they find in it, else they never would have gone to the trouble of getting themselves born. They are in life to profit from the experiences which it brings them. How then can they do this excepting as they observe the traits, habits, and reactions of other men, their behavior and performances under different conditions of living, and adjudge or conduct themselves according to the program of general human activities which they behold being followed by all those about them? This may seem hard for the moment for the supersensitive person to grasp. But people of supersensitive or introspective natures should examine, not themselves inwardly, but their behavior in regard to the behavior of others. People of supersensitive natures should say to themselves in each case: "I have come into this world where there are millions of sentient creatures like myself, at least in their physical fundamentals and mental processes. All of us must be here for some constructive purpose, since everywhere in Nature there is a progressive evolutionary movement. Now what can that purpose possibly be? I and others find ourselves beset on every hand with conditions that are not to our liking. We are confronted with cruel problems in that failure to find their solutions terrifies us. We find ourselves unloved by those we would like to have love us. Often we find our bodies possessed of strange inclinations and impulses that make them traitors to our spiritual development. Life appears constantly as a hopeless jumble. What on earth is the trouble?" But their questioning should not stop there. They should go on reasoning thus: “Is it not true, or may it not be true in my own case at least, that somehow or other I am picturing to myself an idealized state of society in which I might better be dwelling that is chiefly my heritage from happier life sequences I have previously lived, of which I have projected for myself in Thought Reality between my many mortal sojourns? Now then, in thus exhibiting my idealisms so manufactured, what am I truly doing in this lifespan of the present? Am I not trying to live in a world of my own thought-creation, and superimposing it upon the mortal world as I find it by a sort of force, the force of my own will power shown by my inward disgruntlement when I discover that the world of mortality will by no means conform? In this idealized world of my own manufacture, I naturally think of myself as more or less perfect. At least I am quite satisfactory to myself in the matter of my mental and spiritual attainments. Moreover, the world which I thus project in fancy is likewise more or less satisfying to me, since I am its creator. But is it all true? What guide have I to go by, that I am thinking or reasoning honestly and correctly? Is there any test that I can apply to myself, or to this world of my own projection, that proves either to be precisely what I think it?" When any given soul has reasoned thus far, he has come into a cognizance of that very thing which he entered this universe of practical affairs to get. And what do we mean by "practical" affairs? We mean a world where things are what they are, not merely as they appear. We might create an entire universe in our own thought process and people it with a million replicas of ourselves. That is by no means saying that we would be projecting a true universe, or rather, a universe that responded accurately to Divine Fiats as to what a true universe should comprise. Consider this: There must be a true reason why men and women come into earthly life at all. What can that reason be? Each one of them knows that it is not a world which he or she has made himself or herself. The very antagonistic nature of it proves that. For if each of us were given our choice, we would certainly be sensible enough to create a world of minimum discomfort to ourselves. Meaning to say that we would create a world which would peculiarly adapt itself to our own "traits of occupancy" while in it. Instead, we discover that we are in a world that does not accord with our own pet notions or fixations, and we are inclined to be very wroth with it. We do not stop to reason out that this world of mortal reality may be a projection of the God-Thought about the matter, that we are living and experiencing in the mortal tenure for the purpose of getting our own notions altered so that they correspond to the true God Notion of what a world should be in order to be of maximum profit, physically, mentally, and spiritually, to the greatest numbers of persons in it. No, on the whole we are thinking strictly of ourselves. We manufacture, or would manufacture, a little personal world without much space in it for the rights or properties of other persons. We would have them all be very like ourselves or get out of our world and be no part of it. We would label them disturbing elements. Now that would be all right for a little time, a very little time. But much, much would be lacking in such a world. For one thing, there would be no measuring-sticks for human character. Or rather, there would be no opposition, either natural or personal, by which we could adjudge ourselves as being alive at all. Remember that we are what we are because of the experiences we have had in coming in contact with other persons more or less developed than ourselves. It is this very difference, this variation of human attainments, that makes for ourselves being aware that we are alive — or the degree with which we recognize that we are alive. Now the erotic, the introspective person, or the supersensitive person negates and ignores the very thing that has made him to date come into an awareness of himself. He has built, or is building, a tiny little world of his own imagining, his own picturing, his own patterning. He is making himself circumscribed by the limits of conscience which he is conceiving, belittling himself to himself, or magnifying his own traits of character to himself, and generally getting nowhere if he could only be truly aware of it. He is transcribing himself to himself in terms of himself instead of using the divine measuring-stick on character and character development which the God of the True Universe has provided for him in his especial instance. And that is, other people—other people and the manner in which they live their lives as contra-posed to the way the introspective individual imagines he would live his life to himself if left utterly alone. Now those who live perpetually on the Bridges Between the Worlds, so to speak, or in higher states of matter and character development beyond the mortal, have a very bitter crow to pick with those who thus envision life. They, the Eternal Mentors, know that such introspective and supersensitive people are injuring themselves terribly in that they are letting themselves stand still, spiritually speaking. They are saying: "Thus far we have progressed in our lordly contacts with other persons in previous lives. But suddenly we rest on our oars of rowing toward the eternal benefaction that awaits us in higher character development. We want lassitude and quiescence that we may indulge ourselves needlessly in that which we have already attained, or which we imagine other men have attained. We go no further forward. We are quite content to look inward upon ourselves and declare that we are more or less perfect, while all the time the God of Things as They Are knows that we are not perfect and never can be perfect in a world of mortal acclaiming of Self." This being the case, those who look down upon mortal society have a sizable grudge against such complacency in that they know it snarls up otherwise progressive lives of those who are living correctly and constructively, pushing onward irrevocably and grasping new opportunities for bringing out the best within themselves and within their species. This, the Introspectives, have no right or license to do. They are, in a manner of speaking, bombastic. Certainly they are not clever. They are disrupting or hindering the whole Parade that is mortal existence, made up of millions of marchers, and refusing to go forward themselves unless the Parade goes where they want it to go, stepping to the music which they particularly fancy, and serving only the purposes which they have called up. They forget that every other unit making up that Parade has just as much right as themselves to insist on the same procedure in the same items. They ignore all the rest of humanity and insist that worldly performance shall proceed after their own bill of particulars, rendered because of certain experiences which they have undergone and which have resulted in making them the distinctive characters which they are. On the other hand, they would not know that they are distinctive characters unless they had the rest of humanity as a background for their own estimates or exhibits of individuality. The viciousness of the whole program adopted by supersensitive or introspective persons lies in the fact that their whole philosophy toward life is one of escape from the standards for true progress which the Almighty has set up in His infinitely superior wisdom exercised toward all humanity. They do not fancy the Almighty's world that takes into consideration all other persons. It seems to be a world of surface cruelty and unfairness to their own small egos; it circumscribes their "free" expression by the dictates of reasonably organized society; it shackles them with handicap that requires the expenditure of mental, spiritual or even physical energy to overcome. And they do not want to expend energy of any sort, regardless of the fact that such expenditure constantly strengthens them and improves on the very individuality which they cherish so indulgently. They prefer to consider themselves already perfect, in a little Thought World which they conceive as perfect, but which really is the epitome of weakness and disintegrating individuality, since it results in a sort of spiritual interbreeding that devitalizes and emasculates their characters. The secular psychologist provides a recipe against this by telling such people to forget themselves, to get interested others, to look outward and not inward. But that is only putting a philosophical poultice on an external eruption instead of going down into the bloodstream and observing what microbia are working there. The true recipe for the supersensitive or introspective person would be for him to face the facts about himself and recognize that he is crystallizing his past idealisms into a world of his own making that is grievously lacking in that factor of major importance making God's True World the proper universe of reality that it is. And that factor of major importance is the item of about six and a half billion other souls who must be taken into consideration and provided for, that they too may have taken an arena for their self-expressions. When the supersensitive or introspective takes these into his reckoning, he suddenly realizes that he approximates a world that is the exact prototype of the one which the Almighty has already projected. On the other hand, the supersensitive's world is a world with all the other people in the universe left out. And to escape periodically or completely into such a world would mean not only the annihilation of character but eventually the annihilation of consciousness itself. You are told from the Higher Dimensions that supersensitives and introspectives, those whom the world terms Erotics, are merely normal persons whose characters are lacking in the proper quota of moral courage. They fear new experiences, they dread new contacts with new people. It makes them break out in a cold perspiration to be suddenly thrust into the limelight, whether to play music at a social gathering or make an impromptu speech at a banquet. They have lived in the little "perfect" world of their own Thought Creation for so long that they have lost their abilities to exhibit publicly, thus disclosing how very imperfect they truly are. They have so weakened and emasculated themselves by living in their own little private universes that they cannot adapt themselves to a world where millions of others like themselves are primary factors. When such a public exhibit is thus forced upon them by circumstances, they forget that it is a measuring-stick of the "perfection" they have been mentally imagining for themselves, and flee still more swiftly into the recesses of spirit. Such people uniformly turn to their own bodily processes to give them vicarious reaction to the physical world in which they are living. They let their physical functions take the place of social functioning in their philosophies. They know the inadequacy of the former to provide true measuring-sticks for them and so they magnify them in their thinking. Soon the world is labeling them introverts and perverts when they are really nothing of the kind. They have simply missed the point as to why they have really come into life. They really came into life to have social contact with the other six and one-half billions that are in life at the same time for similar contacts with them, and for a similar reason. This social contact provides them with accurate estimates of their true mental and spiritual attainments. The world, in other words, measures them for their real worth, whether they assent to such appraisal or not. And instead of noting those appraisals and setting about improving themselves accordingly, they run away into spiritual seclusion and hide from reality like a frightened puppy beneath a divan. Now self-consciousness, considered in this light, is nothing but a person's knowledge that all of the foregoing is quite true and that something should be done about it. But dwelling within themselves overmuch, they have pictured so many bugaboos as existing in the world of Reality that they have become foolishly fear-struck, and this fear has been permitted to become the ruling emotion in their lives. They are constantly in panic that those things which they have imagined, from cloistered retreat of their own spirits as happening to injure them, will suddenly appear and defeat or devour them. They constantly forget that the world from which they continually flee is only composed of six and one-half billions of human beings not one whit different from themselves. It is an old adage in war: "Remember the enemy is equally as scared of you as you are scared of the enemy." That is a truth that applies with the same potency to the warfare that is earthly living. The world is made up of infinite numbers of people, quite true. But they are people of exactly the same hopes, timidities, panics and aspirations as ourselves. All the other people in the world are equally afraid of us, and self-conscious in our presences. Frequently it breaks through with a sort of shock to some people to learn this truth: They have conjured up humanity in their own minds as a great indefinable monster made of different attributes and temperaments that are only waiting to wreck or belittle them. They are really afraid of those imagined "powers" which they themselves have accorded to humanity. The man without self-consciousness is the man who has grasped the size and power of himself in relation to the universe, not the size and power of the universe in relation to himself. So-called "leaders" have learned to their amazement how easy it is to play up to the fear that the individual has of the mass, knowing that the mass is nothing but one person multiplied many times. Instead of being hurt by every little wisp of adverse comment, or terrified by the bugaboos of the Social Monster, self-conscious, supersensitive, introspective persons should look upon their experience in life as a chance to learn how childlike and naive human nature is, and how stupefyingly easy it is to impress, control, or command it when the thought is kept constantly in mind that all other people are merely replicas of one’s self.
(From The New Liberator, vol.2, no.5, Nov.14, 1931)
[This
Higher Mentor Message is one of the earliest channeled by William D. Pelley,
presaging a voluminous body of metaphysical communications over the years to
come. Pelley had been struggling with feelings of doubt and unworthiness at
the time this communication was received.]
We are
many, and our younger brother [Pelley] is merely the one who helps in making
the link between us. We are come from farther planes, and we come only when
we find vibrations awaiting us formed by the junction of your personalities.
We are the Masters, and those who come to each of you alone are friends on
our side but not Masters of the Wisdom. What we say, we
know!
Much of what they say is the fruit of knowledge with a broader field than
yours of earth but still far from absolute. When we speak, they also listen
and learn. We are come from realms they have not entered, and we defer our
progress that we may so return to give you the teachings usually reserved
for those who have been freed from physical handicaps. We alone are to be
heard without question and without reservation. That is because we alone are
of the Higher Company who have grown beyond the necessity for further
incarnation on your earth and are, therefore, able to make real contact with
the Spirit.
Yes, all
other contacts must be only partial and not of the nature of ours. By the
Spirit it is meant that which created and is the universe, and all
other manifestations in whatever phase they appear.
There is
no God in the sense in which theologians use the word! To name and personify
Infinite Spirit is to limit it.
The word
"God" is merely the attempt of the human mind to make contact with something
it is incapable of grasping. Only when the Mind stands aside and the Spirit
functions does the reality hidden behind words appear or begin to emerge.
You whose
eyes are opened must still use the terminology of your fellows, but let it
always be with the clear vision of that which habit and custom in the use of
words will tend to blur for you. When you say God, think always Spirit. When
you say Christ, think always Spirit made for the moment manifest. And so
with all those other manifestations of Spirit who have been the masters and
teachers of the race.
We are
sure of you and these others on our side who are constantly in touch with
you. We are able to come only when you are met for the purpose of these
teachings. The rest of the time we are about our business. But be sure we
have reports on you from these friends who are so often with you. In all
that concerns your earth-life, we leave you to them. They are wise and
faithful counselors, but remember that when the stage of infallibility is
reached, the entity becomes like us and has no further contact with the
matters that concern life on the physical plane. Trust those who guide you,
but do not expect omnipotence or omniscience. We are more nearly able to
foretell the future than they are, but we are only interested in the future
of your spiritual growth to awareness of spirit.
Where
there is physical form, there is difficulty in making a clear channel, no
matter how much we both try. And when the channel is not clear there will be
confusion and misinterpretation. It is easier to clear the channel for this
teaching than for matters which concern your Earth Life because we are
making a channel for the things of the spirit and the desires and emotions
of the body are not involved.
As we have
already written, there is one Law and one Force and one Harmony in the
universe. And that is Love. There is no other master of Spirit than this.
You are
foolish to let your contact with the Masters over here affect you so
emotionally. There is nothing in our Lord's love that can be cheapened by
your acceptance of it which will grow from day to day and be a greater and
more vital factor in your life a year hence than it is in the present.
Do not
make the mistake of thinking that He is only interested in His servants for
the work they can do for Him.
He loves
them because they love Him.
That is their mutual bond.
Your
emotionalism is a sort of self-pity that you should be chosen for such honor
when you view what you think is a lack of capacity. You are not to be
commended for over humility. You must be positive, constructive and militant
in your love for Our Lord and not weep emotional tears because you see no
reason for His interest in you and think that it is a kind of
luck .
He has been thus good to you because of your potentialities, and if you
would return this love you will stand forth in shining armor and plan your
campaign of good works with laughter and self-confidence.
You would
not weep tears in the presence of your American President. Why think that
our Lord is overjoyed to see your eyelids reddened with tears? You must take
His command to be happy and joyous literally. In no better way can you let
His light shine before men. He is the King of Joy and Laughter when the
laughter is the outgrowth of loving humor. He wants you to help make the
world rejoice. Too long has He been labeled the Man of Sorrows.
He is the
Prince of Happiness and the King of True Mirth. >
There is
nothing demeaning in this except as you make it so by the introduction of
false doctrines. “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for unto you is born this
day in the City of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.” That was no
command to weep or wail.
You have
passed the stage where weeping is permissible, and now we are preaching more
self-control. You are no longer children in your faith. You have had it
tested and come from the process strengthened. From now on try to act the
grown man and let the light of happiness and joy so shine before men that
they shall see your Lord's good humor in your face and glorify your mutual
Father who is far, far away on exceeding high planes of pure Spirit far
beyond all our comprehension.
You are
capable of working miracles when you have married divine love to divine joy.
There is no greater mystery than this. Grief of any type is purely negative.
It falls in the same class with Doubt and Fear. Grief, Doubt, Fear, and
Regret …all of them are dark clouds across the sunrise of real spirituality.
Leave them behind you. Be positive henceforth in all you do, say or think.
It is the mark of real divinity. The universe was not created by having
doubt. You are about to receive great treasures. Why not take them with
clean strong hands undefiled by anything negative or unworthy?
(From Bright Horizons, September, 1954)
The work of all
Christ-persons on earth is graded by degrees of attainment. At times it is
necessary for them to make adjustments of those degrees, cleansing their
houses, so to speak, of debris that has gathered in their mental storebins.
All outstanding people have
to pass through this sort of thing in attaining to power. Concepts of dogma,
religious observances, mental preferences, static conditions, much that they
would be ashamed of at an advanced date, has to be cast aside and thrown
away for the sweet, clean inspiration that comes with the power to observe
accurately that which is to be seen.
We on the
higher planes are thinking of Christ-persons on the earthplane as types of
robots when we say this — that is, organisms and not personalities. We have
to tell them certain things that they do not always like to hear. They have
preconceived notions, most of them made up of preferences and prejudices,
not all of them necessarily harmful but not conducive to their upward
growth. We try to do this mercifully but do not always succeed. Tonight we
would tell those of you directing the Christ Work what we wish you to grasp
and appreciate about that work.
No
one can lead the work who is not a great and sincere lover of The Christ.
That is their first and essential qualification. Nothing must stand in the way of
it.
No
matter how brainy a man is, he must have love for The Christ in his heart.
And by Love we mean, a sincere regard that motivates service. Is he
God's Man in the highest sense of the word? If he is, take him, for power
will be given him to overcome his faults and rise to every occasion. If he
is not God's Man, drop him …he is susceptible to distraction.
Our second
stipulation is this — Make no errors of judgment about means and methods to
be pursued. Do not think that every agency is the proper agency merely
because it is available. Try to discern whether it is adaptable to a
spiritual message. Do not try to make velvet out of a sow's ear in vehicle
construction.
Our third
stipulation is: Place no mark against anyone who disagrees with you or
disapproves of what you are doing. It is the mark of ignorance only, not of
malice. Your "enemies", so to speak, are merely ignorant people,
no matter how clever they may show themselves in assailing you. They have
their own ups-and-downs too, and are only trying to hold you back
spiritually that they may catch up themselves—which on the whole is
commendable. Be humorously kind toward them.
Now we
have a fourth stipulation to make, as important as anything we have
previously stated. When people come to you desiring to assist, make sure of
one thing before you go very far with them …not only that their hearts are
right toward The Christ, but that they are enthusiastic to see His work
triumph throughout the earth!
You have
it in your hands to build a spiritual structure so strong and lofty that it
can sway future governments for constructive good, if you will first make
certain that your people are Christ Enthusiasts—not fanatics but earnestly
desirous of seeing that His kingdom comes in men's hearts.
Lukewarm
people will prove a liability. The great Elder Brother is tolerant of them
but not enthusiastic over them and you must be the same. It is the Master's
mechanism that is being forged and it must be kept so — a great and vital
force, motivated by a sincere regard for the achievement of His mission. Do
not make the error of judging them too cannily, that is, with consideration
of your own comfort in handling them. Remember that fastest horses are
hardest to drive — any old beast lopes along by himself.
You are
members of the one Supernal Group, all of you, belonging together. There are
many members of the group you have not met. When the preliminary work is
accomplished, the Big Work comes reactively.
Few of the
Christ Group members are of the types that can long endure subservience to
one another in the ordinary sense. Remember, they are all great leaders in
their own rights and their relationships are real in the essence of
individuality. Mark this well.
All true
members of the Group must function over long periods of time apart from one
another in the body, yet arriving at that state where the communion of their
spirits is incessant, no matter what the distance intervening.
What we
want most of all to register is this: There is a difference in the work of
each true Christ Person. At first they may be close. But each one stands for
a Thing — in the ultimate assembly. When the work gets so great and vital
that personal interests are forgotten or submerged, remember that loneliness
is always a form of mental idleness. Few will have time for it after the
Major Performance starts.
This organ now building for the molding of public opinion must bear the aspects of a
secular organization but secretly motivated by The Great Teacher's desires. Yet we say it goes further and becomes a towering Foundation,
immensely wealthy and having ramifications in every quarter of the globe.
Its work must be practical, not theoretical. It must assist concretely, not
academically. It must get down among the lowly and raise them, not speculate
about them. This means what it means.
The trip
starts now.
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