Posted by on March 20, 2018

UP FRONT AND PERSONAL
MARCH 11, 2018

In our Tuesday study classes we have been reading the Master’s messages to the Conventions since 1911. One can easily slip into a mindset of “That was then, this is now.” Or perhaps listening in a more detached frame of mind as though we were somehow outside of the problem or the timing of the solution. I have often found the messages much more relevant when I read them changing the pronouns to I, me, we, our, us, and your, rather than he, his, him, and the nouns men, man, and mankind. This morning, using this technique of making these messages more immediate, more up front and personal, I have taken parts of the 1951 and 1952 messages to share with you as examples. We will begin with a direct quote from Master Hilarion; “My Children: My heartfelt greetings to all on your Annual Temple Convention, as you convene in sacred and solemn session to receive the blessings now being outpoured from inner planes to help mankind find its way out of the darkness into the Light.

“As you gather together today amid a war-torn, storm-tossed world, troubled, unsettled, divided, and unsure, the struggle between Good and Evil goes on, ever carrying out Life’s evolutionary course of high aim and purpose, so that the constructive forces may eventually open the doorway to the Great New Day destined for this cycle, and decreed by the Christos. His all-pervading Love and Light seek to open the hearts of all of us in order that the forces of Unity, Harmony and Universal Brother/Sisterhood may prevail over the earth.” In our time frame, nothing much has changed in the past 67 years.

The message goes on to tell us in more personal, immediate terms that The Great Master, in the beginning of the Temple work, sounded the call to Templars in His powerful Charge: “Go forth to battle with the Powers of Darkness, armed with the Sword of the Spirit of God, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Helmet of Eternal Truth. See to it, then, that no stain rest on that armor, no rust on that sword, that you may become One With Us, on that Great Day Be With Us.” The power and force of these words came from the Christos, the Higher Self of all Life, warning you and me, who aspire to work with the higher laws, how to battle the accumulated forces of evil.
Within each one of us The Sword of the Spirit of God, the highest manifestation of Deity, the Atmic principle, must be eternally vigilant and work with the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Heart Consciousness, the Buddhic principle, and the Helmet of Eternal Truth, the Higher Manasic principle, which Triad is the spiritual weapon of the Higher Self. This triad must work unceasingly inside of each of us, that no rust on the sword or stain on the armor can accumulate, tainted by the lower self. This Great War of the Ages must be won by the Shining Armor of the Higher Self.

Keep ever in mind the fulfillment of that promise. “The Great Day Be With Us” will come when you and I let go of the outer fleeting evanescent shadows of the lower self and enters into the consciousness of the glorious New Day of grandeur and majesty, the New Order, the Day of the Christ. Will that happen in this lifetime? Probably not, but every step taken leads to that goal, somewhere, sometime.

Each one of us who aspire to the higher order of life that leads to spiritual heights and who desire to help in the redemption of humanity must be awakened to the realization of the Divine Laws governing all life and keep positive to the constructive forces, and work with them at all times.
We must battle the powers of darkness every step of the way to win the victory over our lower self. Each of us has to climb the lower rounds of the ladder of life first before reaching the higher rounds, in order to develop the attributes and principles of our Higher Self and incorporate them into our being. Our Higher Self, composed of these higher principles, must be reached by climbing again and again, life after life, to overcome the lower forces that are active in all grades of matter. It is a natural process, but a slow and measured one. Our Soul cannot even realize or accept the existence of the Divine Spirit until each of us can identify our Self with that Spirit and can partake of its nature. Every conscious effort put forth by us towards attaining a realization of the Higher Self will eventually lead us nearer and nearer our goal along the Pathway that leads to God.
Man-made laws cannot meet the tests of every phase of life until those laws are identical with the Divine Laws of God, which are just and exact. We, in our outward approach to solve the great mysteries of Life, often find ourselves unable to conceive of the true ideals, and so cling to outworn ideas of a limited concept and, in so doing, block the way to greater understanding. The possibilities of humanity are unlimited, and limiting the limitless ideals of Deity by holding on to some limited human concept does great harm to the Soul’s progress. Deity is ever guiding through the higher laws and sends His Divine message to all of us, free and clear of obstruction. His Message is limitless and eternal.
Before I am able to perceive the God-like qualities in fellow men and women, I must comprehend and identify myself with the individualized self, the Higher Self, as everyone and everything in the Universe come from the great fountain head of God and are One in essence.

When Divine Laws, the foundation stones of the Universe, are broken by any of us, it will inevitably bring results in perfect exactness with Divine Justice. The Lords of Karma are the administrators of Divine Justice, high spiritual Entities Who guide and direct the action of all degrees of every force and energy set free in the Universe. They do not pick on us, they are not getting even, however these laws so governed cannot be broken without serious consequences. Disobedience to them may obstruct the action of that law for a time, but cannot do so permanently, because the Divine Order in its divinely appointed course always acts for the benefit of humanity, even though its decrees are delayed and must bring sorrow and suffering upon people and races. From the standpoint of Divine Law, we human beings, as also every creature in all the kingdoms of nature, whether animal, plant, or mineral, is in its rightly appointed place at all times, and definitely placed there as to position and purpose in the divine plan. Believe it or not! The ever-watchful Lords of Karma determine this in accordance with the desires and actions of each one of us; not our outer wants but our real desires. No other person could remove another from his or her place in the universal scheme of life unless such removal was decreed by Karmic Law.

Progress is limited by blocking the concepts of the true ideals; the lesser concepts lead you and I into a limited viewpoint where the true vision is blurred, and so lead us away from these higher ideals.

The Trinity, the Triad of the Higher Self, is omnipresent, immutable and changeless. It is “all that was, is, or ever will be.” The Infinite principle, being omnipotent and omnipresent, contains within Itself every atom of the Universe and is active throughout all grades of life visible and invisible. When you and I have reached the heights where self-consciousness exists in equilibrium, we will have attained to Mastery and will then consciously realize the Divine Laws governing it. This is a lengthy process covering myriad lifetimes, but it is directed by pure Love for whom the process is timeless.

Life in its ceaseless action is the One Great Light of Love, Divine Essence, uttering itself in never-ending expressions. The Divine Will, the Great driving power, can never be diverted from Its true course of exact Justice which always strikes a balance with purpose and design.

The following year the Master told us that, “Amid the feverish, storm-tossed, divided, weary and distressed world today, when the disintegrating forces have gained a wedge into every department of life, you long for surcease and rest from these outer complexities of life. I would ask you to come closer to the great Center of Light, the one true Light, and enter for a time the doorway that leads to the upper room, illumined and radiating the Light of the Central Sun, where the Christos reigns in majesty and glory. Lift up your consciousness to those heights, and partake of their grandeur and beauty. There you will find and realize the higher expression of the Law: Unity, Harmony and Love Eternal. There in the inner stillness of that sacred sanctuary you can partake of its beauty and grandeur and know yourself as One with all that lives. In that great Company of Light you will find inner peace and poise.“

Now let us hear it from the position of up front and personal. In our inmost hearts we know, and know that we know, that if we would hold to that higher plane of consciousness, then we must seek within. This is called self-responsibility. If we would aspire to serve unselfishly and gain the power of wisdom to know the righteous course, then we must seek within with the greatest determination of will and purpose to obey and carry out God’s divine plan. For it is within where we will find the key that unlocks the doorway to the great mysteries of life. You and I must step out of the darkness of ignorance and enter into the realms of Light to gain the inner power and strength of that radiant light and spiritual knowledge.
All humanity must travel the same pathway that leads to the Spiritual Heights. Each and every thing, from the atom to the star, evolves under fixed inexorable Law, guided by the Masters of Love and Compassion, and all attain the highest development through this evolutionary process of divine guidance.

We all take devious routes to reach that height in accordance with the karmic action and reaction for each one of us. After all, we have been doing this day-to-day stuff for a lot of lifetimes! Some of us take the perpendicular steep and jagged path, while others take the slower winding path, and all of us stumble on and upward, falling down again and again. But we must always get up and go on and know that the many obstructions and experiences along the way are part of one’s spiritual growth. The positive and negative poles of life are our teachers in every field of endeavor for knowledge and enlightenment. Such is God’s plan of spiritual attainment.

As everyone of us is a part of the Great Whole, we are One with our fellow creatures; and, as Brothers and Sisters traveling along this great journey of life, the responsibility of mutual helpfulness must be fulfilled every step of the way. As a part of God’s universe, we must sometime, somewhere, realize, know, and demonstrate our responsibility to each other.

Every atom, force and substance contains within itself the power to produce all that has ever been, is, or will be produced by every other atom. (repeat) The Soul contains within itself the constituent parts of all other Souls, as all are parts of God’s infinite reservoir, all-inclusive and eternal. The qualities and forces which you and I use for our development are Love, Will, Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Hope, Truth, Justice, Loyalty, Honesty, Service and Obedience. If we will base each moment of each day on these twelve qualities and forces we can watch our lives deepen beyond belief.
In our desire for individual development you and I must use these forces unselfishly in the interest of all humanity because of our Oneness with every other creature. To the degree to which we are consciously aware of the higher qualities within ourselves, to that degree are we able to realize our Oneness with God and our other selves. The great majority who have not reached that development, who have not realized this great truth in the scheme of life, find Deity vague and illusory. But as you and I evolve and come closer to the Divine within ourselves, we are better able to realize the Divine in all others and to know that all of us are brothers and sisters in every step of evolution.

The Brother/Sisterhood of Man is an indisputable fact in life. It is the truth of the fundamental Unity of all that lives, and it calls for letting go of prejudices and creeds and uniting on the principle of Divine Justice, Tolerance, and acceptance of all others. All the evils in the manifested Universe have been brought about by each of us violating the Law of Brother/Sisterhood. Knowledge of the Divine Laws, of karmic action and reaction, and love for each other will someday bring about the ideal state of Brother/Sisterhood among humanity.
God rules over all life, administers the action of Divine Will on all the evolutionary forces throughout the Universe, and shows each of us that all development is guided and directed under the rule of Divine Love. And Divine Love, as the karmic administrator of Divine Law, in which all living creatures are a part, comes under this plan. Obedience to that Law––Love––is the fulfillment of all other laws, and binds us in bonds of holy Unity. The administrator of karmic law in its higher aspect is ever fair, just, tender and merciful in all of its decrees.
Everyone of us should fully understand that the Law of Brother/Sisterhood is Divine and Sacred and that Law must be applied for fuller growth and higher understanding, not as a mere statement, but as a great reality in every phase of their development. When the negative forces enter in, then unbrotherliness separates you and me and the forces of unbrotherliness bring about great suffering and almost irreparable damage at times, and can last over many centuries, until our spiritual intuition becomes awakened, and in the true meaning of Brother/Sisterhood reunites those of us who have been separated.

One of the basic causes for our cruelty and unbrotherliness is the desire for material power and selfish interests which we have blindly pursued because of our lack of true vision and ability to perceive aright. It will take heroic effort and great wisdom to open our eyes to the true fact that you and I are one along the path, and that we have to free ourselves from the karmic reaction of the selfish acts and wrongs done, and then we will begin to act from within rather than following the outer impulses. You and I will become consciously aware of the essential Unity of all things, and better understand the true principle of Brother/Sisterhood. The voice of the Higher Self ever calls to each of us, and as we listen to that voice the inner urge will come to “do unto others as you would that they should do unto you,” every minute of every day. This Golden Rule of all times is the Eternal Voice of Brother/Sisterhood in action among nations and peoples. And this will ever be spoken to us that we may realize its vital part in altruistic living and Universal Love will rule.
The New Day is before us and awaits our decision in helping to bring this to pass. Each and every one of us has a part in this great work of universal scope and no one can take our place or do our work.

As the struggle between good and evil goes on, as the Cosmic Fires cleanse, so we must let ourselves be cleansed by these purifying forces, in order that we may understand more fully the true purpose of life, the Great New Day and its Message to all humanity. The Lodge needs each of us to carry on during these perilous times. So we must stand firmly together to promote the Spirit of Brother/Sisterhood over the Earth.

Posted in: Temple Talks