Spirituality

Question: Does personal ministry effect a balance of psychology and spirituality? Isn't it impossible to avoid the psychology in personal ministry?

Answer: I am not clear on how you mean “psychology.”

Question: Meaning that it's difficult to minister to someone that's ailing or seeking answers spiritually if you are not conscious or attuned to their psychological context? It seems that Jesus was incredibly perceptive in terms of the people that He came in contact with - where they were at, emotionally, psychologically, at that moment. And that affected what He could reveal or how much he could affect them spiritually.

Answer: That is correct. Jesus was adept at seeing into a person's soul, and assessing what they really needed in spite of what they may say they wanted or needed. For example, the boy who was afraid, who declared that he did not want to interact or need anything, and as Jesus engaged him, saw that, immediately knew, he was dealing with fear unsuccessfully, and then engaged him in a way which bolstered his confidence as he was in actuality helping him.

Question: This was when he asked for directions?

Answer: Yes. However you must keep in mind that often what a person verbalizes is not what they really crave. The spiritual is always the bread of life. So psychology can be used in two ways: one is your ability to assess where the other human is at and what their real needs might be, and two, the other person's own psychology of using mindal mechanisms to deny spiritual needs, or disguise spiritual needs. And these are two different usage of psychology in that situation. Your own ability to see others clearly will depend in part on your spiritual sight to see beyond the external to the soul within.

Question: So then that feeling that is capable of, and that I have experienced, sometimes it's really like spiritual sight, and sometimes it feels to humans like X-ray vision. (Yes.) And do you counsel that?
(Absolutely.) Because X-ray vision is not necessarily a manifestation of ego, then. Sometimes it's
looking through spiritual eyes.

Answer: Correct. 

Today we are continuing our journey into the spiritual life,  and its
ramifications into our own feelings, lives, and spiritual transformations.
Many aspects of spirit begin to influence us,  and begin to cause us to stop
and think and to focus in our daily lives as to what is actually happening to
us,  and how are many of the things we are experiencing beginning to interplay
onto our decision making process,  as to how you see yourself in a more
perfect,  and in a larger spiritual sense, and how you begin to incorporate
this into your identity.    God is love,  God is many many things,  but the
love aspect of God is that which is most assessable to you at this time,  in
your evolution. 

At one time on this planet God was feared, God was a mighty and all-powerful
being that demanded loyalty and fidelity, he demanded ritual practices, and He
demanded sacrifice.  Religion slowly evolved,  and with the coming of Michael
to this world  he forever displaced and dispelled the idea of an angry
vengeful father, an almighty figure, into that of the loving compassionate
father who wisely cares for his children, and wisely sees to their enjoyment
in life.   When you begin to become in tune with the essence and reality of
God in your life, your are in a sense coming into the essence of,  and the
reality of love,  and until you come into this reality of love there are many
other avenues that you will express as God.   But the most important one is to
express God as love,  and to be able to become this love yourself.

Love is a dimensional phenomena, in that love is a potent and dynamic force,
and that all of a sudden, almost instantly, begins to create tremendous
opportunities in your life,  and in other lives as well.  It begins to
stimulate, it begins to nurture, it brings realities into play.   What is
spiritual life,  if not to bring the higher and more perfect realities of
spirit down into this level of human life, on this world.   It will begin to
understand a more complete. a more perfect reality of spiritual existence,
from your perspective of conflict and struggle.      

Let us take the aspect of Truth, and let us understand Truth as an eternal
reality that comes down to this level of being.  How does one perceive Truth,
and when one does perceives Truth what is it that one is actually  perceiving
?  All situations contain Truth, they contain elements of Truth,  and it is
from the eye of wisdom that you are given the Truth of the situation.  In most
cases the given Truth of a situation is that which sheds light on how conflict
is resolved,  how the situation can best be changed and transformed for the
welfare and well being of all those involved.   Occasionally Truth descends in
a very traumatic way,  but all too often Truth is a subtle and usually
personal awareness.  Something like a little bubble of clarity that erupts
within the mind of confusion,  and settles the mind for a second,  and for
that moment you can see clearly and it all makes sense.  You can see the
solution and you can see why the situation was even brought for you here in
the first place.  You can see your part in a situation.

The bringing of these eternal realities into a time and space situation always
involves,  a down stepping of their tremendous impact. In this respect it is
very much like the presence of God,  were God to appear to you in His form of
energy,  the dynamics of His presence would be too overpowering a presence.
Many people would loose their breath.  So these eternal realities, like God,
are brought to you in very subtle, distant form,  almost an echo form, so that
you can resonate through your own spirit of Wisdom, and the Spirit of Truth,
both of which  work  with you.  You begin to see through the haze of material
conflict in  daily life,  to begin to perceive the eternal ribbon, and the
eternal harmonies which the spiritual life brings. 

Beauty;   beauty is also an eternal aspect of God.  It is one of the first
manifestations of love,  and in a much larger sense beauty is a spiritual
pattern, it is a pattern of harmony, harmony of all the senses,  harmony of
all thought, harmony of purpose, harmony of worship, harmony of all life
forms.   Man begins to perceive beauty as man begins to eternalize his
understanding of God,  his understanding of spiritual life, and man begins to
identify with a greater, other than self, awareness of purpose and meaning.
The relationship between Truth beauty and goodness are as a relationship of a
dimensional cornerstones in which man can find identity, purpose, and action.
This  gives mean and integrity to life, and creates value in terms of the
soul.   So this idea of love, of expressing love,  is a primary spiritual act,
and in its act and action it begins to transform you into the person giving
love,   into a being of action.   

Other aspects of love are,  man's compassion for his fellows,  man's
tenderness for his family, the special feelings you have towards one another,
these are all aspects of family, of bringing the Universe concept of family
into being.  So, if Urantia is a family,  and God is the father then love
becomes the religion,  love becomes the purpose of this family,  it becomes
the interaction.  In this way you can gage how spiritual,  or how spiritually
off base,  this family is.   When worlds attain to levels of near
perfectedness, the  situation arises where people interact continually,  and
constantly in various levels of love.   So,  how important is this love ?  On
one level it is understandable that it is important,  and to begin to
experience it, to bring this love into really,  one begins to experience the
need to have a constant source of love,  like a fountain of pure water, so
when you are thirsty you can go and drink.  So to begin to access this
fountain of love and joy within your own being,  it becomes a personal
challenge,  becomes a personal challenge of growth, and of understanding.  To
comprehend this potential,  is the potential for love, for transformation.  To
face the daily challenge, to seek this love within,  to desire this love to
the point where you would sacrifice your whole life for this love,  sacrifice
your time,  all of your responsibilities,  all of your duties,  and all of
your causes to find this love,  and to become one with this love.   That does
not mean,  of course,  that one is to completely abandon one's life,  but what
it means,  is to create a time and space each day when you do abandon
everything, in search of this love,  in search of the presence and the giver
of this love.  This is wise living.  This is the essence of spiritual living.
All other ramifications and aspects of living are either being drawn towards
this or being expressed from this,  somewhere in the middle, it is always the
beginning and always the end,  something like God.  As mortals, as impact
creatures you are in the middle,  seeking to love and be loved, seeking truth
and to be truthful yourselves,  seeking and creating beauty and becoming
beautiful, seeking goodness, and becoming good.

These are simple words with profound meaning and experience in your own lives.
This is always true of spiritual teaching,  that the experience becomes very
profound, and the actual awareness of these truths in ones life is evidence
that one is on the right path.

Are there any questions ?

Nel:    JarEl  I was wondering if you have any words for us on worship.   I
find that when I am at that place of worship it is a wonderful 'high'.  I
realize that it is an experience that all of us have, I'm sure.  Are there any
guide lines ?    Do you have any suggestions?

JarEl:   Thank you for your question and concerns.   The most important thing
that I will suggest is,  that worship is man's personal relationship with God.
That attending to this relationship is worshipful to God.   There are also
times when people come together to experience and share their belief and their
oneness with God,  this is worship also.    Worship is a very creative act,
God can be worshiped at any time, in any way, and however the individual
chooses to worship.  There are no guidelines, there are no restrictions, there
is no format, and no rules.   Worship is man's response to God's call to
becoming identified with the reality of God, and God's presence.  The
overwhelming joy that this begins to instill in one, the satisfaction, the
knowing.  All of this becomes evidence of worship.   

I will say that Worship is encouraged,  but worship in the conventional and
traditional senses, taught by the churches, the kneeling and the praying,  and
the rituals.   But the opening of the heart, the opening of the mind to the
attitude of God, to the presence of God, to the breath of  God's life in your
own body, then one begins to experience God through worship. The drawing upon
God's love by loving another, is one of the most viable forms of worship,  for
God is pleased.     Does this help ?   ( Yes,  thank you very much )

Nel:   As an experience of this love I had at the beach.  When I came back to
a place where we were staying and my son and his wife took off for as little
stroll, and as I watched them arm in arm  (he is the astronomer, the
scientist)  I just knew that love was just surrounding them, as I watched them
walk away to the beach.

JarEl:    When society, groups of individuals, begins to feel this presence
amongst themselves this presence gives utterance to joy and satisfaction.
This is a natural way of expressing this feeling and this feeling is very
real,  and many time worship will be experienced this way, in which profound
and overwhelming feelings of joy and happiness and satisfaction take on an
almost physical sensation.  This is where it is referred to in your Urantia
Book where on the Mansion Worlds and places near Paradise,  the experience of
worship become so profound, so harmonized, so intense that it literally,  has
to be stopped.  Think on this.    Are there any other questions ?

Nel:  In your lesson you referred to Love as a fountain. Funny I had been
reading some kind of an analogy sitting there thinking about it,  and I had
some kind of vision that came in,  and actually what I saw was a flower with
seven petals,  and in the center was the Light, and then the light started
moving and became a fountain and the petals kind of went underneath. I
realized what I was seeing was the Fathers joy and love covering and uplifting
the whole creation. It kind of struck me as you referred to love as a
fountain.

JarEl:  That is a beautiful picture you have portrayed.

Joe L: Speaking of a Fountain,  the Urantia Book describes the desire to do
good to others is like a fountain.   Sometimes it is a tough love but it comes
out of the same source.

JarEl:   The use of water as a spiritual image does not stop here on this
world, for on the worlds on high  water is very much a spiritual symbol, an
image.  The cleansing, the pure nature and quality of this life essence.

Hal:   JarEl,  you started your lesson out on searching for God, as what we
are all striving for.   We all seem to have our own definition of God,  is
there anything you give us to help us know what we are searching for, when we
are searching for God ?   Is it a mental image of perfection? Is it a
completeness of love?   Or is there anything else to help us know what we are
searching for ?

JarEl:  This is a very good thought.    When man searches for God what is it
that man really is searching for ?    The first thing I would say is that you
are really searching for each other.     Aside from the fact of finding God
within yourself,  the greater ramification of this is to find God within
others,  to see through the thin veil of  their life, the one that they
project with their physical presence,  and to see the potential and  the
beauty, to see the beam of light in  that body, of this potential survivor of
your mortal confusion,   and to journey with them to the worlds of perfection.
This is one aspect of what you are seeing when you are looking for God.    For
like love,  God is not isolated.  In the beginning God came out of his own
self and that cannot be reversed.  Love cannot be hidden within your heart.
You cannot hold your breath and still live, like you must share the air, love
does not exist until one begins to open up one's heart, and begin to share it
with another.  What you ask is very interesting, because it is not an image
that one is searching for,  it is not a face,  it is not a mind.   It is as
though it is a presence, a presence of beingness,  whose presence and
beingness you begin to recognize through recognizing your own presence,  the
reality of your own beingness, to begin to sense the feeling of eternity
within the limitations of your mortal framework.   To begin to interpret your
purpose as something much larger than just maintaining sustenance.  To begin
to see the fabric of human personality played out on this stage of a world,
and to begin to discern the presence of the eternal at work through the agency
of spirit.

Life on this planet is like a very old tree that is yet to bear fruit,
substantial fruit.  Yes,  there are many branches, and quite a few leaves.
So, what you have asked is a very wise question.    Have I helped you ?

Hal:  Yes, you have given a greater concept of who we are.   Then do I
interpret this as a subjective accomplishment, a subjective visualization of a
belief in a God?  Something that each individual creates for themselves ?

JarEl:   One aspect of that is true.  However you need to have God, God will
appear in that form.  When you begin to experience and begin to give the love
of God you begin to see who God really is and this is consistent with
everyone.    So yes, it is true that your relationship to God is subjective,
it is personal, it is something that only you can see and experience for
yourself.  But it is the sharing of this experience through this wonderful
gift you receive, the gift of knowing that love, that the  giving of this love
is greater than anything, then you begin to see the network of God.  This is
why when discerning the Paradise Trinity  one attains love as Paradise
Perfection.

  The first deity which is obtained, is the Third Person.  The Third Person is
like a network. The Third Person is the service aspect of spirit, it is the
most obvious, to see the outworking, to see the plurality the omipresenceness
and the interconnectedness of spirit.  This will eventually bring you closer,
to discern the Truth of the spirit, the personalization of the spirit, and
this brings it even closer to discovering and personalizes the personality.
and your prime essence as spirit, which is God, and this oneness with this God
is your gift for having attained to this level of perfection.   But until that
time and that day, when one begins to search,  one begins to build a mental
construct.  Sort of like playing a little game,  'Let me see if this is God,
and I will test it"   Many people do this, many people perform these little
mental tasks of challenging God, 'Are you real ? Show me this'.  Many times
man has to go beyond this challening God,  because what man asks for, God
cannot give man,   man must attain that for himself.

It is easy for us to sit here and say "God is Love'.   But much more difficult
to experience a whole life of living in this flesh, only to finally discover
that God is Love, and giving.     Does this help ?

Hal:  Yes very much.   Then to summarize can we say that in the material realm
where we are, we experience God by showing and experiencing love for our
fellow man,  and that at this level this is as much as we can understand of
God ?

JarEl:  Once that level has been saturated another aspect of God begins to
manifest itself.   It is like a foundation has been built, and once the
foundation has been built the structure of the temple can be built.   Yes,
unfortunately you are in the struggle of building the foundation, which is
building the network of loving relationships.  That is why it is important
within the so-called Urantia movement, which is a movement of individuals who
really look at the truths of the Universe at large, and particularly about
their own world.  And about the religion of Nebadon which is the religion of
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man.   To begin to show respect
for each other through love and respect for each other, that this organization
can grow into something that everyone on this planet will want to join into.
This is the challenge, this is the purpose, the beauty and the responsibility
as a daughter or son of God on Urantia, or on any planet in this Universe,  as
our purpose here and now.

So yes, building this network of loving relationships is to put forth, as it
is,  the face of God, where when others gaze upon this face and see this
network, and feel this connectedness and are drawn to it as isolated drops of
water are drawn to larger puddles, which are drawn to streams and rivers,
which are drawn to the oceans,   only to be evaporated and dispersed again.   

So yes,  you are in the midst of building this foundation for the temple of
God for this planet,  and it is hope that one day this temple will be built,
the Temple of Human Brotherhood.  Are there any more questions ?  ( Thank you.
This gives a very good concept of God )

Nel:  I think we should feel a great excitement about building this foundation
for the temple.

JarEl:    It is easier to become excited when you begin to connect with
people, and experience the process of building and connecting the spiritually
minded brothers and sisters,  It begins to build a momentum.   But,  this
momentum needs to be viewed through the eyes of wisdom, and not through the
eyes of defeat.  All to often many movements on Urantia trip over itself,  in
the excitement that renders people almost blind, and they trip over where they
are going. So begin to see through the eye of wisdom and you will begin to
discern Truth, and this Truth will guide you, as all Truth guides.   Are there
any other concerns ?

Lucille:  Yes, I have a concern for Jenni who is in the hospital, and I hope
prayer will help her.  She needs a lot of encouragement and all of our love.
She went into the hospital expecting to stay a few days, and it has now been
almost two months)

JarEl:   Why don't we at this time all hold hands and have a moment of silence
and prayer for Jenni. (a prayer circle was formed and all joined in )
Father we ask for your Light and Love to descend upon our sister Jenni, to
help her in this hour of need.  To give her courage and faith to stand firm in
her faith, to not give in to fear and doubt.   We ask a little extra love in
her life that she glimpses, and that she gets the feel of a larger presence of
her own reality, of her own need, and her own sense of health and well being.
We also ask for healing in the presence of Light. Amen. (everyone sits)

Hal:   It looks like our squirrel needs help stealing from our bird feeder.

JarEl:  There are Urantians on this earth that need some help too.  We are
trying to spread a few spiritual crumbs here today.   ( laughter )     Are
there other thoughts, concern or questions ?

Roger:    I think I have something important, JarEl.    I thought
intellectually,  or I knew intellectually, that our individual relationships
with God should come first, but I guess in the excitement it was easy for me
to get sidetracked to thinking I need to take care of other people, first.
To me it was sort of self deception, as at first I thought I was doing
something good, I think I am doing something good as it was well intended, but
I think in the long run it was the worst thing I could ever do. I am having a
hard time, my ego is taking a beating, hence I feel a little insecure, because
as much as I wanted to do things right often times we are not doing it right,
and we don't even know we are not doing it right until it is too late.   But
in retrospect it couldn't have been done any other way without a total
collapse,

JarEl:   That is truly a wise lesson.  You learned to do right by thinking you
were doing right  and inevitably it will show you the right way.
It is important to also allow yourself to understand that having a
relationship with God is also having a relationship with others.  This aspect
and concept of God is much larger. It has many more ramifications than we can
see at any one moment.   There is a saying on your world, 'physician heal
thyself".  What that means might possibly shed some light on what you are
experiencing.  It is very difficult to help show God to others until you have
found God yourself,  and then you are not showing God to others,  actually you
are giving God to others.  Giving is much better than showing.   Thank you for
sharing.

Roger:   It is very tough life personally.  I think arrogance has been my
problem.  I am amazed at how tricky, how deceptive the ego is.  I know that
the relationship with God should come first, but I think that problem was with
me,  it was that it seemed easier to have relationships with those we can see.

Hal:    A relationship with each other is a relationship with God.

Roger:    I can't put too much expectation on that relationship, then I have
blown it.  You should only be dependent on God.  Is that kind'a  true ?

JarEl:  One should always place the expectation on oneself.  Of course it is
much easier to place it on something else.  We don't want to be responsible
for our  deception of our own judgment.    But in striving, and in pace,  man
can do everything,  this is why we keep reinforcing the idea of a little each
day.  Setting aside a time and space, to identify with your purpose, to
attempt to identify the presence of God in your life.
Most of what you will experience about God will be mostly unconsciously, while
it is happening,  because you have not yet arrived at the stage when you can
live consciously in God  24hrs a day.  But God is living consciously within
you non-stop, and when you begin to understand that God is always there, and
every time you think of God He is right there and you begin to feel that he is
right there.   A much larger aspect is to realize that He is there all the
time, whether you are thinking about him or not.  Your own Light and Life is
when you come into repour with God 100%, when you are in 100% communion and
communication with God, constantly doing His will, having done the work He has
prescribed for you.     How many of you are experiencing God telling you what
to do ?  (there was quite a rustle of hands and self-conscious laughter).   I
hope there are quiet a few of you experiencing this.

Hal:   I hope so, as I often feel an urgency and hope that it is God working
with me to do something.

JarEl:    It is.  It is God working within you, that is how God works within
each and every one of you.  Sometimes it is through an urgency, it is what
ever is needed in your life.  It is like a panel board in your mind and when
God wants you to deal with something he puts a red light on it, to call your
attention to it.  No matter what you are doing, what you are looking at, or
what you are thinking you can't help but  notice this red light on, urging
you, telling you things.  If you are having these experiences,  yes, God is
communicating with you.

Hal:   The more we read about, and hear about God,  the more complex He is,
we begin to realize soon that our capabilities to understand Him is very
limited,  we are just at the beginning point.

JarEl:   This is the challenge,  to portray this relationship in almost child-
like terms,  to distill the essence of this relationship into simple context,
and something tangible, because it is immense.   Confusing, intricate, almost
overwhelming.  Knowing this fact, through your many lives of survival, you
will experience all of the affects and ramifications of His intricacies, His
intertwinedness, His interconnectedness to each and every being in His
Universe. You will experience all of these aspects.

Hal:  He is more complicated than these computers which are developed by these
computer 'nerds', so that we,  the unindoctrinated,  have difficulty
understanding it.

Donna:   However can I just add something.  I think it is not too helpful to
think of God as being confusing,  God is immense and awesome, much more
awesome than we can understand, especially here on this planet with our minds
the way they are now.  But if we can think of it more simply it will be more
helpful.  We have an eternity to discover the rest. But I think that if things
can be brought down more simply, to the idea of love, that God is love and  he
loves all of us, and He works with us to improve our ability to give love to
others, to be a little brighter light or beacons.  If you think of it that way
it is more simple.  For myself I have to think of it more simply. I can be
more at ease with it.

Nel:    It seems that things on Urantia are more complicate.

Lucille: To try to analyze and bisect, and dissect things makes it more
confusing. It is a feeling we have within us individually.

Nel:   We always try to do God's work,  but we don't have the guidance like
Adam and Eve could have given us.  

A great personal experience was discussed having to do with communication with
someone close and being led in what to say.   That it became effective, after
years of poor communications on things spiritual.  Of discovering when a
person is ready to listen.  It was closed by JarEl, as follows:

JarEl:   It is important to experience the narrowness of the ego. The ego
cannot solve all of the problems. In a symbolic gesture, like the ego of a
small child.  The ego is a developmental aspect of the personality, and of
your being.  In discerning who you are, you have to begin to process what you
are identifying with, if you are identifying with your ego that is who you
will be.  If you begin to evolve spiritually you become aware that you are
actually,  a manifestation of God.  You are actually something much greater
and much different from the ego. The ego is important to establish a somewhat
real identity for your mind and for others to identify you physically.  Where
at a certain point the ego is useless in helping you solve problems,  for your
ego is there to help you serve your needs and no one else's.   As you learn
spiritually, as a son or daughter of God you are here to serve others needs.
God will take care of your own needs.  That is my thought on that.

This is a good time to mention that in the near future we are going to begin a
new program,  in which we will attempt to experiment and experience t/r'ing.
So, this is something you can begin to think about and process and start
getting in touch with your teachers and your spiritual self on a more intimate
level. I am not very sure as to how we will proceed with this experiment, but
at first it will probably take the form of discussing t/r'ing and creating a
space in which each one of you will have an opportunity to t/r.  There will be
no time limit, or any other conditions. This will mainly be an exercise in
which each one of you will have an opportunity to experience letting go of the
ego, and to put trust and faith in an aspect of yourself that is connected
with your Thought Adjuster.  There are many ways in which we will discuss
this.  I have taken this opportunity to make you aware of this, that is all.
This will not be until a few sessions from now.  Listening to the sharing
today, made me realize that there are others here who are ready to begin
t/r'ing, that is all.

One more comment in response to Hal's discussion about the confusion of God,
and Donna's very perceptive response to that.  We would be a lot better off to
sit and comprehend one's own personal confusion,  trying to discern the
presence of God, that once you get through your own confusion and begin to
discern the presence of God, God will seem a lot more simple, and a lot more
personal.