Our regular monthly Temple of Light service occurs on Sunday, December 22nd at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern Time withAnne Blaney and David Barnes speaking from Salmon Arm, British Columbia and Steve Ventola speaking from Atlanta, Georgia
The following visionary words were spoken by Martin Cecil just before Christmas in 1980, in a service titled “The Continuing Incarnation Of The Archangel”
“Nobody has an isolated meaning, not even the One who was called Jesus. He was born into the world, and we see here a point of conception taking place within the body of mankind. We speak of Him as LORD of Lords—the One who provides the focus of man's true identity. Man is not just one person but, rightly, the collective body of mankind, however many that should be. That collective body has an identity. We have referred to the identity of the body that was conceived at the time of the birth of Jesus as the Archangel. The Archangel is rightly to be revealed through His Body on earth, in all His Glory. Our concern is to allow the angel to come forth in the increased intensity of the angelic spirit — Shekinah, the Fire that Burns, the Light that Glows, the Cloud of Glory — making all things new. But how? The earth and all that is in it needs to be transmuted, so the more the coming forth of your angelic selves occurs the more fire there is and the more rubbish gets burned. We have been concerned individually with our angelic coming forth into expression. This relates to the Archangelic coming forth through the Collective Body which He has built for His own incarnation. This is the same Archangel who provided the focus of spirit as a starting point when Jesus was born on earth. However great that starting point may have been, because of the presence of the Archangel to make it possible, how vastly greater is the experience when that Body has grown to the point where the Archangel can come forth into expression on earth through His complete Body. The conception of this creative cycle, which is now well on its way, occurred when Jesus was born on earth, and the One who incarnated in that individual body is still incarnate in the True Body which is forming and beginning to provide increased opportunity for His coming forth. What a wonder it is to know these things! When the angels of God are in expression on earth, here is a place of safety for the coming forth of the Archangel. That ultimate experience of transmutation is not yet present with us, but the time rightly comes as we continue in the creative cycle, assuming responsibility ourselves in the angelic sense.”
What a wonder it is to know these things! Glory to God in the Highest. Love to All as this great work continues through everyone and everything, everywhere. david barnes and anne blaney
These are the Temple service dates confirmed for the next few months:
Sunday, February 16, 2025 @ 10 a.m. PT 1 p.m. ET yet to be discovered … in the unfolding Story
Sunday, March 30, 2025 @ 10 a.m. PT 1 p.m. ET yet to be discovered … in the unfolding Story
Sunday, April 27, 2025 @ 10 a.m. PT 1 p.m. ET yet to be discovered … in the unfolding Story
If you would like to lead the way, to focus and speak in a Temple of Light service in months to come, please let us know @ templeoflightaum@gmail.com
Everyone is welcome to participate in a Temple of Light service. We only send this Notice and Zoom link to those who have asked to be on our Mailing List, or who ask for a Zoom link for a specific service date. Please don’t pass the link to anyone. We prefer that those who want to receive the monthly Temple Service Zoom link write and request it. This helps keep a light touch of essential control on who and what comes through the door. If you wish to lead the way, to focus and speak in a monthly service in times to come, please let us know. Transcripts and videos are available to all on the Temple of Light website @templeoflightservices.blogspot.com
November 30, 2024
Living Large — Above Effects
YouTube Video Speaker View
Stewart Berger Norwalk, California
November 24, 2024 Temple of Light Service
It is wonderful to be together with all of you to see what new experience might emerge, might be shared together in this new day, this new moment. I've had much time to think about what would be most useful to share with you, and for others who might read these words or see the video later. And part of it relates to recent happenings here in the U.S., particularly the election we had a few weeks ago; and because of that, since then, there has been much reaction to those results. Many of us, I'm sure, have talked about that with people close to us, and certainly that discussion is apparent on social media. Actually, one thing that came to mind in relation to that is the phrase “Keep on keepin' on”. You, having had such substance and experience, including many of you having had experience in leadership positions in years past, and continuing now, find it easy to keep on keepin' on. There are some Top 40 songs with titles like that: “Keep On Truckin’” and “Carry On”—Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young did that one.
We take these effects as they come, and we deal with them in a way that the level of our awareness allows us to. But there may also be some spiritual muscle that's needed to be strengthened. And I find that, in these days, as awareness expands and what we could call the new heaven expands in our experience, it causes us to stretch, so that we can act creatively in new ways. The reaction to the election, and various events that have continued since then unrelated to the election—there are wars and conflicts ongoing, among other things—reminded me of something from the “Bhagavad Gita”, and I'm sure most of you are familiar with this passage, where Krishna is talking to Arjuna, and Krishna says:
“When one, O Pritha's Son!
Abandoning desires which shake the mind —
finds in his Soul full comfort for his soul,
He hath attained the Yog — that man is such!
In sorrows not dejected, and in joys not overjoyed;
Dwelling outside the stress of passion, fear, and anger;
fixed in calms of lofty contemplation —
Such an one is Muni, is the Sage; the true Recluse!
He who to none and nowhere overbound by ties of flesh,
takes evil things and good, neither desponding nor exulting,
such bears wisdom's plainest mark!
If one deals with objects of the sense, not loving and not hating,
making them serve his free soul, which rests serenely Lord (or Lady), lo!
Such a man (or woman) comes to tranquility;
and out of that tranquility shall rise
the end and healing of his earthly pains;
Since the will governed sets the soul at peace.”
“In sorrows not dejected, and in joys not overjoyed.” Some people are really happy about the election results, and some are very concerned about what could happen in the next four years, and that's to be expected in any kind of change. Uranda also said something that I think relates to this—and this is a portion of a Class he gave on May 4th, 1953, called “What Is Perfect Function”:
“In this connection we recall the text, ‘All things work together to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord.’ All things work together to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord. This does not mean that everything is going to be the way you would like it to be, does not mean that it's going to be comfortable and entirely satisfactory to the concepts of your mind, or that you will have what you want when you want it the way you want it. It means that even though human beings may think evil and try to produce evil, even though there may be many things that are not according to the right pattern of function in relationship to your own personal problems your own personal life and your relationships to others, it will be caused to bring forth a blessing if you stay centered and let it be so.
“The human mind is inclined to judge and say, ‘Well now, this is against me. That I do not like. The other thing is contrary to God's will.’ Suppose Joseph had said when he was in the pit and heard his brothers talking about selling him as a slave, he had said, ‘Well now, I know it isn't God's will that my brothers should sell me. What an insulting thing, what a degrading thing is this, and I know this isn't God's will.’ No, it wasn't God's will, it wasn't his design; it's merely the manner in which he utilized the situation. God does not produce the ill thing. The ill thing, whatever it may be or may have been, is not and was not necessary. But since that is the case by reason of human function, God can and does use it to advantage. It's a process of outmaneuvering man.
“If you function effectively with God regardless of the oppositions and the difficulties and the problems that arise, either now or in the days of your ministry that are ahead of you, you will find that, staying centered, God is capable of outmaneuvering man, outmaneuvering the intents and purposes of human beings, so that he can cause that which man does to bring forth a blessing. But it does not mean that you're going to have it all the way along the way you think you would like to have it. It will not be the best that could be, probably in many respects, but all things work together to perfection for those who truly love and serve the Lord. And what is perfection? I believe you've studied this somewhat in your classwork, but perhaps it would be well to reemphasize it a little.
“What is perfection? Perfection is not, as far as we are concerned, some ideal future state. As far as we are now concerned, the Edenic state—that which is to be after the restoration is complete—is not perfection. What is perfection, as far as we are concerned now? Perfection is right function under the circumstances as they are; the right attitude in meeting the problems that arise, in dealing with them. Right function in circumstances as they are is perfection.
“In other words, we use perfection in dealing with that which is not right and we do not have to have everything right in order to have perfection. If you think that you have to have everything right all around you in order to function in perfection, you're wrong. You do not. You learn to function in perfection in relationship to all adverse things, all ill things, all things that are not as they ought to be. It does not take a perfect environment in the sense of having everything on a perfectly pleasing basis to function in perfection. That which is perfect today probably wouldn't be perfect tomorrow, probably would not have been perfect yesterday. That which is perfect today is the right meeting of the situation as it is today, including all of the ill things, all of the adverse factors.
“We must not think of perfection as a fixed and static thing, as something final, as something that simply does not change. The perfections of God are forever changing. We may say there are perfect basic laws that never change. Yes, those laws do not change, but the patterns of their application are forever changing, and it is because of this that human beings so readily develop false concepts about what the perfect law is. They see its working in a given circumstance and they jump to a conclusion: ‘This is the eternal law.’
“All they have seen is an application of its working in relationship to a specific condition, and generally speaking, the human vision is not great enough to comprehend all of the factors which were being dealt with in that specific application of the perfect law.” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-is-perfect-function.html]
I suppose many if not all of us can think of aspects of our lives that do not appear to be perfect. On the other hand, I know that the heavenly experience, to describe it that way, is perfect, and we know it to be perfect, and we share that experience and knowing. I could wish that I hadn't had the flu this weekend but there wasn't much I could do about that, and perhaps my thinking would be a little clearer if I didn't have that flu, but these conditions that we deal with, each in our own way, are part of the human condition at this time, although we've seen that it is changing.
Perhaps for some people, one aspect of perfection would be living a long life, and that caused me to think about how, if humanity allows a greater experience of what has been called the new heaven to emerge, that could result in a new earth or new earth experience, possibly allowing people to live longer lives. We have the record, in the Bible anyway, of how various people lived nearly 1,000 years of age. In the Book of Genesis, there is mention of several men who lived between 900 and a thousand years, which is quite something. Interestingly, no women are mentioned in that regard, but I would have to think that women lived just as long. In the record of the Bible, Sarah is considered the oldest woman, who lived to an age of 127 years. I'd like to read something that Martin said in 1987 in a service called “The Elders”. He began this passage by saying “... everybody perishes. It's been done generation after generation after generation.” And he went on to say,
“I am the Lord thy God, and I would willingly bring you out of that state. I provide everything that is necessary to do it, except you have to make the choice. It is in making that choice to let consciousness be restored to heaven, which requires relinquishing the subconscious controls, that the way is opened for everybody else. The door is opened in heaven if somebody will actually let it be done. ‘Well, I can't. I have all these earthly responsibilities here, got to take care of them.’ Yes, we have to take care of things, but not at the expense of what is required to abide in heaven, to let the consciousness be lifted to heaven so that it can see what needs to be done. But if one is being pulled this way and pulled that way by earthly heredity, he can't see anything; such a person is blind and in a state of destruction.” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-elders-martin-exeter-26-1986-i-am.html]
Some of us have been noticing, and have spoken of how it seems like what we've called the new heaven has been expanding: growing in size, becoming more purified, of finer quality; and I suppose in simple terms the new heaven can be described as the space in awareness that is yielded to the current of life in every moment, where we become aware through our thoughts and feelings of that current, with its qualities of love and truth, and know that those fine qualities are of our true nature and can be expressed in everything we do. And it is an irresistible force; the more we dwell there and know that our being is truly there, the more we want to be true to that experience, be true to the Source of Life and allow that experience to expand. It's true, we have things to take care of in our daily lives, but if a new experience is to occur in human lives, it will only happen if we allow love and truth to be prominent above all, for True Cause to be prominent above effects.
In some of my reading, one other thing that I read of Martin's is how he said we should have at least as much heavenly flesh as we do earthly flesh, and that seems right; that would make for a very large person, able to do wondrous things, and it's my sensing that it is becoming a larger place collectively, and that's because it's happening individually. I don't think that heaven will come because of human government. We know how slowly things have worked in the human world the way it is, so clearly something different is needed. There is change, but it's very slow. And we know the transcendent quality of our beings and of our fellows. I'd also like to share an audio of a part of a service Martin gave in 1982 called “The Magnitude Of Our Significance”.
“What is your awareness of the magnitude of your own significance? We have noted how petty human beings are. They are always fiddling around with little things that mean nothing. Well, there are things we have to take care of, but we see them in proportion. We never exalt them as though they were of some tremendous significance, because they are not. There is something that is of significance, and that is what is emerging of one's own expression of that creative spirit. That is a part, one might say, of the whole, and yet is not separate from the whole. It is not as though a person says, ‘Well, I've got a little piece of the action here, a little piece of the whole action.’ No, it's the whole action. You can't separate; you can't divide it up. There is one spirit moving of vast magnitude. It has been completely incomprehensible to so-called conscious human minds, but now, to the extent that there is an emergence into expression of that spirit, the mind begins to awaken to what it is and to be in position to see with perspective what is happening. How then could one become involved in the nonsensical pettiness in which human beings everywhere continue to indulge? Well, we can understand why they do it, because they don't have any awareness of what is absent. But we do! There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for us. We know! And only as we accept the responsibility of that knowing may we comprehend the magnitude of what it is with which we are individually associated and for which we are individually responsible.” [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-magnitude-of-our-significance.html]
He's right. There is a responsibility for those who see and know to convey that seeing and knowing to others; to speak the truth; to say it like it really is, so that the light shines and the darkness of human misery can fade away, allowing for an experience of life. And I think we're touching into the magnitude that he spoke of, the largeness of an experience that is available—to us, but not just to us, to anybody. So, it's wonderful to share these things and discuss these ideas. And if anyone has anything that they would like to say about what's been shared or about their current experience, feel free.
Pamela Gray — Stewart, thank you very much for being the mouthpiece and the heart piece that delivered this beautiful spirit this morning for all of us and with all of us. No matter if you had flu or not, it came out loud and strong and beautiful. I was thinking of the phrase, “For this cause came I.” It doesn't matter: flu, election results, whatever's going on in the world—of course, “For this cause”—it doesn't matter, because we have the strength to be in the right place at the right time and offering the message in ways that can be received. And that magnificence of being, in whatever it is we bring heaven; we let people touch heaven because of our spirit in little things throughout the day, big things, every opportunity. I was thinking of you too, a radio broadcaster, with a beautiful voice that carries more than whatever words that you need to say to your audience—the spirit is carried. And I'm thinking of people in stressful situations—they seek refuge in massage or yoga or a sound bath, and I was thinking of you because it is a sound bath, the vibration of spirit coming through the voice is healing, is assuring, is reminding. Thank you.
Marsha Bogolin — Stewart, I loved your service. The pace of it, I felt, allowed me to really directly gaze into your eyes and to feel your being. And I thought it was just so beautiful how you said after we heard the clip from Martin, “He's right!” And also your emphasis that telling it like it is, is important. Particularly what stands out to me is the way you develop this from what Martin had said about how God has offered us the opportunity to live in the new heaven, but we have to make the choice. I love the way you described the new heaven as the space in awareness yielded to the current of life in every moment. That was beautiful. And regarding the election results, they were different than what I voted for, and I found initially, to my surprise, I had a feeling of peace and joy when I heard it, and the reason was that I felt the restoration is coming more quickly—that’s my view; but I did notice that a couple of nights I had dreams that showed me that there're still subconscious controls of concern about how things are going, so this matter of making the choice for the consciousness to be restored to heaven, we do that by relinquishing the subconscious controls that keep us entangled in the earth. So, thank you for demonstrating that. I felt you really did that, flu or not! Thank you.
Laura Fisher — Stewart, thank you so much. Lovely to be with you this morning and everybody. I loved what Martin said about taking a look at our significance. One of the problems in our world is, in order to have significance, you have to have money, you have to have a position, and you have to have an education. And many many people have none of those. And so the way the world is formed, they have no significance, but we know truly that is not so. I have been visited lately by many memories of how significant my service has been over these years. You know, someone comes to you and says, “Wow, when you said that, I never forgot it!” And you can't even remember what you said! But all of us have been significant within the context of what we know and what we have been taught, and that's a wondrous thing. Now in these days, my significant clear light expression does make sense, and it's the only thing that does, and that is calming the waters for the whole world. And as a body when we love one another truly without any thought of anything but love-, that's very significant on the earth. Thank you, Stewart.
Robert Kauffman — Stewart, as Pamela and Laura have made clear, it's not whether or not we're speaking through the flu or whether we're astute and coming forth with the greatest exposition of the truth. Word is getting back to me that we are having an effect, and oftentimes we don't even know it. I was talking to some people the other day, and the conversation had drifted into the area of fear, real fear about the election results and the way the society is going, and I just said, “You know I've got this thought that it really is so easy. You know how when you were a kid you looked up to your father or mother and everything felt fine.” You could start to ask, How do I act here, or react—but it's really okay. And I said, “That's really the way it is with the truth. The source of love, the source of truth is what we looked up to continuously, and we don't have bandwidth left to look at all the fearsome monsters that are out there.” Well, that changed the entire conversation, and it turns out that it's not an unknown thing among any of my friends anyway—they can immediately grasp onto that—the simple truth of looking up and acting as if we have crossed through the door of heaven and are living in a world that is totally from the Word. Thank you very much Stewart. I'm really excited by how you brought that to point today.
Maureen Waller — I was having a lovely time checking all the photos of the people who are present, some of whom I haven't seen for years, and it brought up a big rush of gratitude for the genuineness that I experience with each of these people—that there are so many who have stayed the course. It occurred to me that the hours of every day are opportunities to be grateful and remind myself, if I need to, of what I know and have put into practice over time. It's a matter of coming out as who you are; each of us is in there and we can come out without fear.
Davina Misroch — I'm thinking about fear, and the topic that's in our faces at the moment is the election result. I sat quietly with that, and the first thing that came to consciousness was that everything plays into the hands of the creative process, and all these things work to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord. I know that the Lord will take advantage of things, no matter what is working out. Mention was made recently of the intensification, that I'm certainly experiencing. I was out shopping and it's chaos out there. And I thought, this is typical of what's chaotic everywhere, but my overriding feeling is one of peace and an absolute sense of assurance that this is all working out exactly as it should; that all these things may not be nice, they may be terrible things, but they're working out as they should, given the creative process and how human beings are functioning. I don't feel concerned for this, but I do have a responsibility for staying God-centered, steadfast, stable, keeping consciousness in heaven, because that's the part I can play to steady the ship. And that's the part I think we all are playing, and that is no small thing—that's the collective significance because we are amongst those who love and serve the Lord, and He can operate through that means because there are ones doing this. So, in the depth of my being I have no fear. It may very uncomfortable out there, but I'm not afraid. We'll see what happens next! Thank you.
Carol Travis — I loved that you brought the quote, “All things work together to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord.” It didn't say all things work together to perfection just any old way—it does take those who love and serve the Lord to provide a steady space, a control pattern on earth. That is our job, from what I understood, and the way that we do that is the steadiness mentioned, regardless of what the outcome seems to be at the moment, and there have been some interesting developments here in the United States since the election, but it doesn't matter. My experience was, when I heard the results, “Okay, I'm getting up tomorrow morning, the sun will be shining, and I will be living my life just as I always do, and whatever comes, I can rest in the knowledge that all things are working together to perfection because I and many other people do love and serve the Lord.” And a corollary of that is not to judge by the surface appearance of things, because the surface appearance may look pretty crazy, but just having that assurance of resting in the Lord, and knowing no matter what it looks like that as we stay centered that all things will be well. All things are well already within us, and I have such great confidence and assurance in the power of spiritual expression on earth. Thank you so much for what you brought this morning.
Deborah Starrs — There are three words that precede that phrase: “and we know” all things work to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord. We do know, and we're here to let the glory of the knowledge of the Lord fill the earth in our own immediate circumstances, but we are also aware of the significance of coming together with one heart, one mind, one purpose, in the expression of the quality and character of the one we serve. So Stewart, we do what we need to do, as we need to do it, and things unfold as they should. Thank you so much.
Meridy Hurt — I've been thinking of truisms, adages and sayings, and when you said “Keep on keepin' on”, another adage is, “It is what it is.” And what it is is the knowledge that the old heaven and the old earth are passing away. And with the Serenity Prayer, “Grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change”, what you cannot change is that life is, life goes on; and Krishna was counseling Arjuna to have the serenity to not react in overjoy or over-depression. And the prayer goes on to say, “The courage to change what I can change”—that's the heart, that's the love, the heart to respond accordingly with perfection, right action, despite what's going on, the old heaven and the old Earth falling away. And “The wisdom to know the difference” between what I can control and what I can't control. The wisdom is the assurance, the knowing that we've all felt and affirmed today; how to respond in love. What's integrating? For me that is loving and serving the Lord—actually being able to do that with love, truth, and life. Thank you.
Milly Holliday — You posed some wonderful questions for us to meditate on today. We're going into Thanksgiving weekend where many are going to be with family, and in the United States families get into tug of wars with one another very often because of the Republican and Democratic turmoil. I think of the phrase “The sun shines on the just and the unjust”, and if we truly are postulating that we do love and serve the Lord, we must let our light shine in the difficult situations as well as the joyful ones. The joyful ones are a great delight, but there is work for us to do in actually being true to letting “my” light flow freely, and not having preconceived notions as to who benefits from it and who doesn't, because that is not the way of the Lord! I appreciate the opportunity for some refinements, and that is all part of the new heaven that is emerging. Thank you so much Stewart.
Anne Blaney — I want to pick up the fact that it's the one sun that is shining on and all through the earth. I loved what Martin said about how there's one spirit moving. This brings comfort to know that there's one spirit moving through all people, the whole planet, and the question is, how are we going to respond to that spirit? There's a range of response to the powerful urge towards integration, wholeness, that's moving through the whole universe, and we can see the ranges when that power starts to move. I agree that there's an increased pace happening with that power moving through the whole system. The question is, how are we really responding to this action? You asked about what is ours to control? We may think the action is happening in the White House, or wherever, but the action that's really happening is right here in our own hearts and minds! That is quite dynamic. When that's actually taken care of with continual sanctification, then you can step out into the world in a state of wholeness and peace, and you can be of use to release that spirit wherever it fits. The real action tends to be what's not seen, just like in our bodies—inside that body there's so much happening. Well yes, there's a lot happening in this body right now, and this is cause for celebrating actually. Dealing with each thing that comes to us, that is our responsibility, and it gets closer and closer. Let all those patterns and habits and crusts right inside of us be dealt with. It's so fullfiling to keep doing that dynamic work. And it's really encouraging that these things are coming to issue. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord for that one spirit that's moving through the whole—and we get to play a part in that. Great Thanksgiving!
Greg Fladager —Anne, you were talking about the one spirit, and I was looking at the 35 faces and groups that are on this call, and it's like watching 35 different TV shows at the same time and it's a good feeling! So, thanks.
Stewart — Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed what each of you have said. Thank you so much for adding your voice and sharing your experience, your thoughts and feelings. We need each other to do what needs to be done, and I'm sure you've been places in experience that I haven't been, have more experience in certain areas than I do; it's very enjoyable to share in that way and I think we're all the better for it. What you have said has been profound. I appreciate the mention of control, especially as there is the dissolution of various elements of the human nature world, and it does seem that that is quickening in some ways. Because many people are affected by that, we who have experienced the nature and quality of love and truth can offer reassurance to those in our worlds that there is something trustworthy and constant in life, and they can know it too. So it's been a great time, and to close I have a short piece of music that I thought fits with what Martin was saying about the magnitude of our significance and the magnitude of the experience of heaven on earth. This is Igor Stravinsky from “The Firebird.”
