July 16, 1987

• Spiritual growth is observable

• Lose your sense of self-importance

God joins you all together in a common bond characterized by love and the mutual quest for lives enriched by peace and by the understanding of the meaning of God in your lives.

Your conversation this evening was rewarding on many levels. We found the chance to recognize that our efforts with you and for you are bearing fruit. Evidence of that comes not strictly from your answers but from your questions and also more importantly from your responses to one another. We have stated many times, when you are gathered as a group you bring different perspectives to your search. These perspectives reflect different positions in your spiritual development. You should recognize that these differences do not represent disparity in terms of levels of development, for it is not appropriate or beneficial to feel or to assert that one is more developed than another. The differences of opinion hide the fact that your souls grow in ways that are not always verbally expressed. It can be that one who poses questions and challenges may have a higher level of development than one who expresses opinions.

What we are saying is that what is expressed does not necessarily indicate growth which has taken place. If you are concerned or have doubts or reservations about issues which are presented, you should not feel that somehow you are behind in development, for offering such questions, expressing such doubts, presents no evidence of growth. It presents merely the process by which growth is achieved. As your guides, it is our intention that none of you feel any sense of exclusive position enhanced by insight vis-à-vis those who do not share in your mutual quest. We mention all of this because central to your discussion is the issue of spiritual growth. Indeed it is central to why you are joined together.

Much has been said of late relating to the presentation of opportunities for growth and the need for reflecting upon life as a series of opportunities. But we would like to focus your attention upon the issue of growth itself. What is that spiritual growth? What is its nature? What is its character, and how is it observed?

To begin with, spiritual growth is observable. It is not some kind of theoretical or abstract principle by which humankind somehow senses a purpose in life. Although the spirit in itself is not concrete, the growth which takes place is. When your souls began their spiritual journey toward God, there was great independence and a strong sense of self-identity. Such a sense of consciousness was reflected in the personality, you might say, of human existence. The consciousness of which we speak was centered upon that individuality—a kind of selfishness, a self-consciousness, perhaps. When you feel yourselves becoming encircled by thoughts of self, you are then aware of the needs of your souls for further development. That development can be viewed in simplest terms as an erasing or elimination of the consciousness of self and a complete identifying on the collectedness of others. The soul as it reaches its final perfection in union with God is no longer an individual soul. It becomes part of the collective consciousness of all spiritual entities. There is no sense of “me.” There is only an awareness of “all.”

The progress of the soul in developing from a sense of one to a sense of all is far more lengthy than anyone can comprehend. It cannot be measured in years. There is no way of drawing the element of time as you perceive it into such development. Despite the difficulty of perceiving the entirety of spiritual development from the self to the collective consciousness, you are still, each of you, in a position during your earthly phase of life to recognize development as it occurs. When you are able to put your own objectives behind and focus even for a moment upon another who may have needs or concerns, you are witnessing the growth of your soul. When you recognize that you have responded with compassion with no other motive, then you have a glimpse of the development of your soul, for the only development that can take place for the soul is the loss of self and an entry into that collective consciousness. In the end you are not one soul; you are all souls. There is really no other characteristic of spiritual development.

You describe such steps as may be observed as the development of compassion and love, unselfish giving, and so on. But these are not really the essentials of spiritual development. They merely give evidence of spiritual development, for as one loses a sense of self, the offering of compassion, the spirit of giving, becomes a natural event, not a specific goal. It is merely what happens, not what one strives for. It is already there.

When you pray for patience, you are praying that your soul will be relieved of concerns for self, that you will be relieved of concerns for yourself. When you are freed of such bondage, thought can only be directed outward, and that thought can only be in the form of unselfish love. The love, the compassion that you recognize of your own exercising or the exercising of another, are merely indications of the growth which is taking place. Spiritual growth, therefore, can be viewed with the greatest of simplicity. The process of growth is not complex. It is merely the means of providing for that process which creates such difficulty.

The individual who is dominated throughout life by selfishness is an individual whose soul still clings to a sense of self. Such individuals cannot be criticized, for that is judgmental. One cannot criticize another because another is standing in a different spot. One can only recognize that another exists, that another is living and growing. It does not help to be critical of another who provides pain or agony to someone. You may observe, of course, but never judge, for God is not judging someone because that person has much to learn. God merely observes that there is much to learn. In the same manner, your judgments must be eliminated so that you may observe. But observing also recognizes a difference between the soul of another and your own soul. Such a recognition of difference is evidence of consciousness of self.

When one has grown through human lives and participation in spiritual spheres finally to be with God, the soul is aware of the entirety of spiritual union. The soul sees life as a closed circle, not a series of individual points, not a line with a beginning and an end. God recognizes when growth is to be achieved, not because God is somehow centered upon God, but because God is connected to the distant soul by an unselfish love.

These concepts on spiritual development are difficult initially to understand, but they really are very simple in that there is only one way to become united with God, and that is by losing one's sense of self and becoming a part of the whole. What are the implications, however, for your daily lives? Clearly it is for you to lose your sense of separateness, your sense of individuality, and to become more attuned to your total unity with all life, all that exists—animate and inanimate. As your soul grows and loses the sense of self-identity, you grow and your sense of self-identity diminishes. The compassion you offer to others, the love you provide, the peace you reflect are all indicative of your identifying with all of creation. You cannot hate your hand, for your hand is a part of you. You therefore cannot hate another, for that other person is also a part of you. You cannot be envious of another, for you cannot be envious of yourself. You are truly One. That is the real impact of spiritual growth applied to daily life. It is that simple.

The acquisition of patience in life presupposes frustration with something or someone. But once you are in unity with another, you no longer have the sense of frustration, and what you would recognize and label as patience is merely the natural way of responding because there is no difference in people. Your sense of unity becomes therefore more complete and there is less room for differences—differences that focus on the “me” as opposed to the “we.”

Spiritual growth, the loss of the sense of individuality, is a goal which pervades human life and becomes an enormously powerful force in the world that promotes peace and trust and avoids anxiety and worry, envy, hatred. There is no room for negativism then. All becomes One.

Human life provides you with this chance to observe the development of your soul, not just the development alone. It is the observation of that development which is the confirmation to each of you of God's presence as a part of your daily lives.

When you are encountering frustrations and difficulties, be they great or small, remember that you are frustrated because you are aware of the separateness between you and some aspect in your lives. Eliminate that feeling of separateness. Nurture the feeling of unity, the bond of that unity being God. Reduce your sense of self- importance, the need for being right, the need for knowing the answers, the need for being first. Seek a bond with all around you, and much that you experience will evaporate.

God's love for you is present because you really are a part of God. God's love for you is real because you are not really removed from that presence. Your vision may be dimmed, but your presence nearby to the light of God is always constant. Sense your unity of life, the unity you feel with those with whom you work, the unity you feel with events which torment and challenge, and recognize that your souls grow as you lose that sense of separateness. Rejoice in the oneness that you do share with God, and in the oneness that you share with all that has been created!

We bless you with that unity which binds all together through God.

Amen.