IntroductionNovember 1, 1992
Wil206
WILL: The love of God surrounds us. The love of God enfolds us. The power of God supports us. Wherever we gather, He is.
Good evening, I am your teacher, Will, who loves you. I bring greetings from Michael, from Machiventa Melchizedek and from our group leader, Manovandet Melchizedek, who has asked me to present the following message. [This portion of the message was lost due to equipment failure and is reconstructed from the memories and notes taken by the group:
Most people on your planet are not focused on the spiritual, but are more attuned to the material aspects of life. Many times it is hard to know what to do or how you do whatever it is you are lead to do spiritually. We are all just becoming. It is of no great import that you perform an act on occasion that is consistent with the Father's will. It is much more noteworthy when you are able to do so on demand, as a matter of course - in every situation. While it is true that you do not earn your way to heaven, your actions are evidence of your spiritual progress, your level of understanding.]
[the remainder is verbatim] It is hard to recognize a spirit growth opportunity and that is why I have described such opportunities as situations that demand. We've said before its like rounding a corner or stepping out into the street. Suddenly, there is a choice to be made. Skills developed by the material mind are not always applicable to the confrontation demanded by this choice. That is the importance of stillness practice. The material mind begs to be instructed. The material mind insists on an example. The material mind asks for leadership. You all know by now that it will not be the way you desire. That is the value and importance of stillness practice. In your time with the Father you are plugged in to the whole. Make yourself available for whatever light and love He can shed on you.
Look how we fill a container. No matter how much medium, it always fills from the bottom up. You are like that too in your spiritual development. Frequently your practice is irregular, intermittent because you don't see that you are topped off; that you are being filled from the bottom up, as your opportunities arise. You have no appointment. No briefing, no warning. Suddenly its there, a choice. How will you conduct yourself? We suggest the example of Jesus of Nazareth who showed the world that the Father's currency is love. That coin is spendable throughout the universe. When confronted with a choice, elect the option that has the most love to it. That will always be the Father's way. It is the essence of the Father's will. To love one another wherever and whenever possible. There is no abasement to do so. Treat each other with loving concern. Help one another, respect one another, acknowledge one another.
Where the path forks, the way with the most love to it will always be the Father's way. The society in which you live is a busy one. People crowd in above and all around. I detect that it is frequently a lonely society. People are isolated. They feel unwanted. They feel that no one really cares. Our fellow, Benjamin, is in just such a frame of mind. True enough, isolation is not good for people. Fellowship and kind regard is the way. There is a fork in the road. It's not what we will do. The doing only contributes to our becoming. Our deeds are merely demonstrations. They are not tests. They indicate to our brothers and sisters where we stand on the path. They are helpful to us so that we can sometimes see the progress that we have made. So let us think about what we shall become. Let's think about what we will become on demand. Let's tune our antennas to the choice in the path that has the most love in it, that way we can't go wrong.
Don't neglect the Father this week. He's waiting. He's always willing to modify His schedule. He has an infinite amount of time anyway. These are my words for tonight. Let us play question and answer a bit more. I open the floor to any who have not yet asked a question in this round.
VINCENT: Will, this is Vincent. I have a question on the stillness. I believe that as we do the stillness, whether we feel any sensation or not, that it is contributing to the construction of the spiritual foundation within us. Am I accurate on this?
WILL: Absolutely correct. Sensations are likely to be misinterpreted anyway. Spiritual growth will find its out in the mental processes in your approach to your brothers and sisters and in the expansion of your capacity for love and kindness toward all with whom you share the material experience. The pursuit of sensations in no way differs from the ecstacies sought by the mystery cults of times past. It is a byroad. It is not necessary for you to feel, see, hear, smell, or shiver with any sensation to hear the word of God ring true in your heart. You are opening the door. What lies beyond the door is unfathomable except with spiritual eyes. Your material body is of no use whatsoever.
SOLDETTE: Will, this is Soldette and, at the risk of sounding like I'm whining, I don't know what I am supposed to do. I know that you probably know that I have been inconsistent with the stillness practice and I try to stop the thoughts. Am I just supposed to sit there and try to void everything?
WILL: At this stage you will benefit more from regularity than from the application of any particular technique. Do not attempt to rule your thoughts for you will merely be combating one thought with another thought which is parried by another thought and thrust across with another thought. And in only a moment or two you will have sunk into a morass of warring thoughts. I prescribe regular practice first. Everything will settle down. It takes time. I do not mean this to sound harsh, but those who will not take the time will find the way going very difficult indeed. It is human skill to calm yourself. It is a human reaction to fill up all the empty spaces with chatter. It is merely your soul desiring company. You can get control of it, but you will not control yourself by warring upon yourself. Sit quietly and wait. Peace will come. Do you think you can do that?
SOLDETTE: Yes.
WILL: That's the spirit. It will all work out. Everything works out anyway, but time is wasting. Next question.
SUSAN: This is Susan. Vincent's question and your response made me think of something and I wonder if this is correct. You talked about not seeking sensations and so on and what it made me think was, do we go into that stillness somewhat on faith that God is talking to us whether we are understanding at that point or not. Is that a correct interpretation?
WILL: Heaven speaks not a word but acts always. God cannot be limited by an earth language. He sent His son to show. He will communicate to you spirit to spirit. There is no other way. That communication takes place by the rules of the universe of which you are only rudely acquainted. It is fine for you to speak to Him in words. What comes back to you is love. Is that any better?
SUSAN: Yes, I think I understood that.
WILL: Next.
D: Will, this is D and, although I almost prefer to remain anonymous on this question, I want to ask for the benefit of myself and maybe others who wouldn't be brave enough to ask. I need to know if a person is under the influence of alcohol or marijuana or some other drug, and I don't mean to the point of being totally mindless, but that they use to relax, does that interfere or somehow hinder your ability to receive spiritually if you are doing stillness during that time period or any time close to that? Can it enhance it, although I am more concerned with the fact that it is possible to have a negative effect on it.
WILL: Considering liquor as a type of drug, the effect of all drugs upon the human is to render the human more or less senseless. You're not damaging the Heavenly Father and the effect on yourself is only temporary but your ability to recognize the results is hampered. The short answer is, the process continues unabated. The time is the most important thing. Functionally there is little difference between stillness approach from an attitude of natural excitement or natural depression or unnatural sedation. The river of love flows over all. It is unstoppable. Your ability to perceive it, perhaps diminished. The Father prefers that, when humans report for duty, that they bring with them their full complement of wits, but the most important thing is that they are on duty. I think that is good enough. Another question.
[long pause]
We will continue this next week. When your opportunities arrive this week, it is the path with more love in it. That will always be the Father's path.
Shalom.
WIL206
Wil207
November 8, 1992
WILL: The peace that comes with the love of the Universal Father. Good evening. I am your teacher, Will, who loves you.
Several of the Christian churches recognize the glorified man, Jesus of Nazareth, as the prince of peace. It is not by accident that he is so known. For the peace of the Universal Father is an elementary part of the bestowal of the Father's love. After the Master's departure from the life in the flesh, after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, his followers were possessed of a desire to go out and speak to the people. What was the nature of this desire? It was not a compulsion. We know that God does not work like that. It was not a command. God doesn't work like that, either. Those men and women were filled up to the very top, to overflowing, with the Heavenly Father's love. The possession and realization of that love engenders peace in the human heart.
There is no description for it, yet when you open the door to the Father in stillness practice, you are inviting the reception of the love and the peace that flows from it. Those men and women were made bold because they were so secure, so certain, so sure of the rightness of the knowledge of the Father and the teachings of the Son that they could not sit on that knowledge because they were sure and secure and at peace with the cosmos, they could go out into the streets among friends and enemies and speak of God and His affairs with authority.
One of these days you will be like that too. The day will come when you too will be filled to the point of overflowing with God's love and the peace that flows from it. That is where we are headed. We have the luxury of time. It is no good to rush into these things. Some Sunday evening when we share reports it will come out. A certain person did this or that and this was the result. We know from our reading of the Urantia Book that where great change is experienced, transition is required. Some of our first attempts might be a little rough, but we will keep on. It is what we are here to do - to share the good news. Stillness makes it all possible. It is a good feeling to be filled to overflowing.
Most humans have the opportunity only during the raising and training of their natural children to experience such an overflowing love. That is the best example there is of serving as a conduit for God's love. A pipeline straight from God to the other person. It is just what Jesus would have us do. Some day we will be able to feel that same love for all people. That's where we are headed.
We have friends with us tonight who have been away. We still pursue the question and answer game. The floor is open for questions.
JUDY: Will, this is Judy and I really have appreciated the opportunity to ask questions. It has helped me grapple with the whole notion of stillness. I was wondering, is stillness something that you still practice at your level? Is it something that becomes more natural and less deliberate?
WILL: What you call stillness, we call identification. Because I am Adjuster fused, identification is a given, yet, like you, I am still working out some of the problems of demonstrating my understanding and identification with those outside myself and I am working on perfecting my attitude of service. Identification with God is natural. The interface with other personalities takes work. It is made much easier by understanding that they, too, are indwelt identically to me. The work remains the same but the challenges are ever greater. I suppose that synonymous with the work identification, I could say worship. It is fundamentally the same. It is a listening activity, not a talking activity. Next.
JUDY: I was also wondering if you struggled with the stillness practice, as we seem to be, at the beginning of your spiritual growth.
WILL: My human nature was to be extremely skeptical of anything that could not be immediately demonstrated and so I dithered and temporized and attempted to hedge my bets but in the end the increasing feeling of peace was undeniable and I signed on wholeheartedly and I knew I was on the way. Next question.
JUDY: So does - I'm sorry, I'm not going to give you up yet - So does every evolving mortal struggle with this concept of stillness and its not just because we've been isolated?
WILL: It is a sovereignty issue. The human must be mature enough and secure enough to better himself or herself through the benefits of a higher path. Those who are a little more backward and feel the kind of rivalry or a kind of external invasive power are not ready for closer identification. It is a very delicate thing. It is not a flaw to move slowly. It is not something to rush into. However, for those who already intellectually understand and generally accept, continued footdragging is probably only interpretable as ego assertion. For those who have a good background and a fair understanding of the Father's essential nature as it is expressed by His conduct toward the material worlds, there is no reason to hang back except animal fear. Most of you should be able to master this kind of fear and if you are not able, you should begin immediately. Next question.
JUDY: I have one last question. This has been such an essential concept for us, it seems, in fostering our spiritual growth. Will there be other essential important concepts to tackle?
WILL: In order to land on Paradise it is necessary to know everything that can be known by that order of creature. We are designed to see a broader range of creation than any other creature in the universe. Creatures of other orders have more specialized understandings of certain parts of the administration but we are the only ones who see all and experience it all so I think the answer to your question is - everything is essential. There is no surplusage in the system. God has no idle purposes. We trust that there is meaning in everything He has done and yet will be. Next.
HELENA: Will, this is Helena. After I practice the silence I've been listening for inner words who content and quality seem other than my own. I would appreciate knowing if I am receiving legitimate communication and, if so, am I approximately accurate in my recording of these materials?
WILL: A standard for accuracy must be quite flexible on your world. We think you are doing right. The important thing is the doing. It is essential to get some movement before guidance can take place, so keep at it. Things will continually improve. As for the degree of accuracy of particular communications, we know from our experience within this group that those discussions tend to erect a wall that is difficult to scale. So my policy is that the validity of individual communications is not discussed. I say that you are doing well. We are pleased. Don't stop now. Great things lie ahead. We look forward to vigorous interchange with each of you on every possible level. In general, we call that spiritual growth. We are interested in building all of our spiritual muscles, not just a few. Is that helpful?
HELENA: Yes, thank you.
WILL: Question?
RON: Will, this is Ron. I didn't have a question about the silence, but I had another one if that's okay. A little over a year ago, I believe it was during our first group meditation here, I had an experience I wanted to ask you about. It was very vivid to me. During the meditation I found myself in a gigantic vortex moving extremely rapidly and far off in the distance the vortex turned to the left and there was an extremely bright light at the end of it. I had the sensation of rushing rapidly. Very fast. And I suppose at some point it must have startled me because I came out of it. My question is - was that something I conjured up myself or was it of any spiritual import?
WILL: As a general rule, sensations are the attempt of the human mind to physical mind to physically interpret the unexplainable. The presence of spiritual personalities often has a physiological effect on humans, who are proximate. It is the pull of spirit gravity. It is quite plastic and tends to become focused - this is hard to describe - tends to become focused within those with a practiced ability to assist humans with leaps of understanding. The forward sensation you feel is genuine. Lacking any other reference points, the human mind also insistently interprets spiritual progress as toward light. So, in some ways, your experience can be explained, but in many other respects it is like explaining a dream. All the unknown and unexplainable parts are filled in with whatever sensations that are on hand. I think the general rule is, the more detailed and realistic the sensation, the more it has thoroughly it has been processed by the human ego and interpreted. The sensation and movement part is good. Is that explanation helpful?
RON: Yes, thank you.
WILL: Next. [pause] Next week we will probably close the question and answer format for awhile. I commend you for your renewed interest in the stillness practice. I trust you will find it productive. If we are to ever reach the point of overflowing, it is necessary to practice. Each day our capacity grows a little greater, for the greater glory of the Lord.
We have happy times ahead in His service. Until next week, His peace I leave with you.
Shalom.
Will-207
- - - -
Wil208
November 22, 1992
WILL: The love of God surrounds us. The love of God enfolds us. The love of God upholds us. Wherever we gather, He is. Hello and good evening to you all once again. I am your teacher, Will, who loves you.
Where does the web of human relations begin and end? For each of you individually and for this group collectively it is your history and it is your future, but most importantly, it is your eternal present. I complement you on your daily interactions with people. Do not let the results of those interactions fall below the threshold of your awareness. I think you will find if you examine your past experiences that spontaneous enlightenment frequently comes from the exploration of those chance encounters with those to whom you are a stranger or merely an acquaintance and are not limited to conversations with people whom you know well. Over this coming week pay closer attention to the people you chance to encounter. The bank teller, the waitress, the clerical staff in your offices, the people you meet or whose paths you cross on the street, your colleagues with whom you would scarcely exchange a glance or a word. Each person whom you meet is an opportunity for the Heavenly Father to flex His muscles, to develop Himself and yourself in the world in which we live more richly and more deeply and more completely. By making the human connection you begin to build that network of human relationships which is the foundation for the ages of light and life. Light and life is not imposed upon a planet from above. It is not a program which begins with administrative coordination. Light and life begins with you and already has. It cannot exist except with the knowing acknowledgment of brotherhood and sisterhood of all persons.
In order for this to become more than potential, in order for it to become actual, you must become more than passive. When you avert your eyes upon encountering a new person or encountering a known person in the same old way, you are exerting the many leveled denial. You are denying yourself the human connection with that other person. You are denying the Thought Adjuster connection between you and that other person. You are denying that person full participation in the brotherhood in humanity which is the necessary first step toward progress among nations. It takes no special expertise for me to point out that following this recent political change that there appears to be substantial desire for betterment of things between peoples, yet it cannot be achieved by means of elected officials. It is up to you all to do the work or else there is no structure for the leadership on which to operate.
It is the old situation of openings and closings. Open yourself to people. You don't need to become mushy. You don't need to become chummy with them. But it is necessary that you acknowledge them, for we are all in this together and until every person is fully allowed into the brotherhood of man, the brotherhood remains incomplete. We think you will be pleasantly surprised if you will just exert yourself just a little bit. Open the door and let God pass through. This is the meaning of step two in our three step exercise. The brotherhood that Michael has in mind embraces all. No one is left outside.
So make an extra effort this week to respect the strangers. Mend the relationships with those with whom you work and play. Be alert to the stresses and strains of home life, with the children and elders. Their membership and full participation is just as desirable. No one is to be left out. This is my message for you tonight.
Well, according to our slightly interrupted schedule, this would be the close of question and answer sessions, temporarily. Are there questions among the group members.
JUDY: I have one that I want to ask. If the stillness practice is so important in our establishment of our relationship with the Father, why was it not addressed in the Urantia Book?
WILL: I think I can answer that based upon my own knowledge. The Urantia Book is a revelatory text. It both implicitly and explicitly counsels direct personal relationship with the Father, yet it was thought that the prescription of mechanisms already widely known by several cultures on your planet would cause the Book to be received and analyzed as a manual and not a text. The Urantia Book is for all people. Many readers approach and utilize the Book from an intellectual perspective only. Others find its lessons too profound and disturbing. Others find that it is just right. Everyone finds God, it is just a question of when.
At the time the Book was compiled and published, this planet was isolated. Under a special dispensation the work continued on the Book. It was decided ultimately to go to publication in the hopes of providing the cornerstone which would be a valuable reference point for all persons and all cultures, therefore no mechanisms other than the recitation of the techniques utilized by Jesus of Nazareth were included in the text. Individual instruction of humans on the planet has always gone forward on a case by case basis and the Father's Adjuster ministry has continued unimpeded for all time. But it was thought and is still accurate that many techniques exist among the several religions of your planet which are very close to the stillness practice and it was believed that people would, in a natural fashion, discover those techniques and begin to apply them.
This has not happened to the extent we desired, but then, what has? And so when this ministry begin it was felt that rather than offering personal guidance, the correct thing to do, the most productive thing to do, would be to emphasize stillness as a technique for finding the Father individually and in group settings and we have met with some success with this. But we must admit that humans are creatures of habit and resistance to regular stillness practice still meets with resistance and the apparent human typical intransigence. Those who are sincerely interested in stillness practice manage to muddle through somehow whether or not their questions are answered. It is not important to understand how and why stillness works. It is only important to do it. It does not even matter what the mental attitude of the practitioner happens to be. It can be no more sophisticated than the burning of incense.
Stillness is about making yourself available to God. He is always available to you. It is not too much in turn to offer Him a few minutes. Even if it rises to nothing more than a gesture of respect, it still works. It is all that is requested. You need do nothing more. But, of course, life can be much more rich and the participation of the living spirit brings its own rewards. Therefor we daily, weekly, from within and without, hammer and chisel and lever and sandbag people with suggestions designed to reveal to them the feeling that comes from greater participation in the Father's creation and in the life experience on the material planets and the feeling of love that flows vertically from the Father above and horizontally among the humans alive. It can be a grand experience. It is not all wailing and suffering.
I do not know to what degree this was all planned. I suspect that it unfolds somehow similar to a great work of music. What is not corrected here is corrected on some other level. We all labor under restrictions. Complete latitude is not thought best for creatures at our level. Stubborn willful expression seems to be as much as we can handle. I could go on at some length, as I have, but I think that answers. Other questions?
HAL: I have a question. Before you talked about how we can allow Thought Adjuster communication to take place in our social encounters and I was just wondering if you could give some suggestions or impressions on how in the hustle and bustle and distraction of those encounters we can allow that process to take place.
WILL: It has been asked as part of your standing charge that you serve as a channel or a conduit for the celestial love to flow. Love is the currency of the universe. It spends everywhere. Not everyone is equally interested in receiving the benefits of heavenly love or even human love. We all know this from our experiences. But a kind word, a thoughtful gesture, a genuine expression of interest were rugged techniques relied upon by Jesus of Nazareth to open the doorway between people. I recommend these to you. There is something irresistibly seductive about the company of a person who actually cares about you. It is hard to resist. I think that every person in this group is experienced enough to deal with this in a mature fashion. Not glom it on or come across too syrupy. Subtlety is appreciated. It is a many faceted connection between people.
I often think of it in the way your culture represents fairy tales. The fairy with the magic wand and the touch of the wand leaves the recipient glowing; that glow to be passed on and on to the other people who the recipient sequentially contacts. The Father connection, a gesture connection, the human connection. That's the course outline.
It runs in all directions, like water seeking an outlet. Love is always willing to travel. Its bags are always packed. It's a useful practice to talk with strangers. You will be called upon to utilize this technique all through your universe career. Opening the human connection with strangers and with acquaintances. It is not as tricky as it seems. You can get good at it. Once they respond, then you know that the door is open. That is when the Adjuster can begin. He relies on you getting the ball rolling, then He takes over. He can't do much with inertia. Besides, I'm rather surprised to hear a question like that from someone in a pack of jokers like this group. Humor breaks down many barriers. It is admired. I should of said jokesters, not jokers.
I passed up an opportunity to say earlier, these acknowledgements and these connections between people are the primary vehicle for spreading peace among people. It is the peace of eternity that finds its fulfillment. It is the peace of eternity that finds its expression in the ever widening network of relationships. That is the result of the touch of the wand. That peace is contagious. This world cannot progress without it. And peace among all the people is the foundation for greater intellectual, scientific and social achievements which cannot move forward while rivalry and defensiveness are rampant. If fear is the greatest impediment to progress, then peace is the greatest facilitator. That is all I have to say. Is there one more question?
LOREN: Yes, Will, this is Loren, I perceive at work as I gain and radiate the Father's good will and presence that black people seem to recognize this far more than white people and the response is much greater. Is this because they are attuned with the Father more or just perceptive?
WILL: They have something special. Everyone knows this. Their time in the sunshine has not yet come, but it will. And the very qualities that you detect in them will be their strengths, given new rein, new expression. They have great vitality and an ability at immediacy that many others envy. I won't say more except to encourage you and all of you to develop the relationships that you have begun, to the extent possible. All there is is the people and the potential for growth that they represent. Growth for you and for them.
The hour grows late. I have enjoyed this interchange. We will do it again soon. For the coming week, pay closer attention to those opportunities that you might have passed by. Don't sluff off the people that you always see. They are all family.
Shalom.
Will-208
WIL209
November 29, 1992
WILL: The love of God surrounds us. The love of God enfolds us. The love of God supports us. Wherever we gather, He is.
Greetings. I am your teacher and your guide, Will, whose privilege it is to serve with you.
You may be certain that the fact that the Creator Son's bestowal life took place on this planet guarantees that there was no rougher example, no more spiritually bereft or morally adrift planet than this. It has its compensations, however. From the view of an eternal this planet presents the greatest range of opportunity known within this local universe. There is more barbarity, more inhumanity, more desperate poverty on this planet than on any others in this universe excepting those that are equally as bad. We call this an opportunity.
It is difficult for you in your North American society to imagine the circumstances of those living on the perimeters of your planet, those people whose very existence is peripheral, those people who are counted by no census, whose families and names will never be known outside their own kinship groups, who may survive and may not. In your television sets and radio broadcasts and your printed material distribution networks you may be often confronted with depictions of the poverty and desperation of certain parts of your planet, yet I will say that there is no desperation equal to those who are the castaways of your own society.
The people whom you propose to serve through your plans this evening [editor's note: the group planned to feed the homeless the next night] are the rejects of your own society. They know that they are not wanted. They know that there is no place for them. They know that the curtain has come down for them in a way that is different both in degree and in nature from the ordinary tragic desperation of poverty. The people you propose to serve know that they will not ever receive the degree of attention that your own cats and dogs receive as a matter of course. It is difficult for them under these circumstance to maintain any desire for further connection with the human race. Their circumstances compel them to live in their own separate society surrounded by wealth and opulence with full knowledge that they will never participate.
Therefore I direct you, should the occasion present itself, do not satisfy yourself with the thought of providing them a meal, use the meal as a vehicle and attempt to establish a human connection. Offer them the opportunity of humanity. Let them know that they are not adrift and completely cut off and that they have a place in the human race, straightened as it may be, then you will have performed the work of the kingdom. And I commend you. These are the people the Master referred to when he described the poor in spirit. It is not limited to someone having a bad day or someone who is ready who is ready for supper. You are referred to those like these who feel that they no longer belong to the brotherhood of man. Well, let's see what we can do about that. I will accompany you in your labors. Until our next meeting, shalom.
Will-209
END NOVEMBER 1992 WILL