August 12, 2008

• The role of the Bible and other sacred texts

• Whether to test a fetus if risk involved

You are blessed in Light, you are bathed in faith, and you are guided by Light.

God’s presence for each of you has a meaning that is unique to your own specific needs and your own position on the path of spiritual awakening. Your paths are characterized by energy being received from many sources. For some, you are motivated on your path by faith, and for others, the path is given momentum through fear and doubt. You each approach your journeys very differently, and yet you ultimately seek the same destination, namely a total unity with God, with Light, life of the Spirit. How you get there is never the same for any two individuals.

James raises the question of the Bible, but each of you has similar types of questions, such as “how does this affect me, how does this govern my life, how do I apply what I learn in meaningful and practical ways?” The question of reference to biblical texts is an important one, for it points to the very center of what we teach. For all individuals there are wells from which to draw meaning and to provide a vision, a direction. The Bible is one of many scriptural texts. Each such text contains within it great wisdom, but neither book nor text nor scroll of whatever spiritual leaning contains what is exclusively the only truth. There are, in fact, many truths. What is true for your neighbor may not be true for you. We are not speaking of what one believes, but what is truth.

For your neighbor, truth is what is essential at a given point in spiritual development to enable further development. As that development takes place, the nature of what is true for that individual, for that soul, may change. What we share with you is truth as it is appropriate for you. For another, what you experience as truth may have little meaning and even less significance. What we convey to you is not contrary to what is provided through biblical texts, but what we share is a different path leading to the same objective.

There is nothing invalid in biblical teaching, biblical texts. It is only invalid as it relates to an individual’s particular needs, and it is only valid as it relates to an individual person’s particular needs. It is a means of gaining more understanding, but most importantly it, and what we do with you, and what any scripture must do is to prompt you to look more deeply into your own lives. The texts in various scriptures are in themselves unimportant. What is important is their impact.

The great religions of the world as you know them have their own sacred texts, and those texts have much meaning for many, but they are like languages. If you understand the language, the chance for real communication and understanding of impact, of potential, of purpose is greatly increased. But if you do not understand the language, that impact, that potential is no less. It is just of lesser significance to you as an individual.

Each central document around which religions flourish is an attempt to connect those who seek an understanding through that document in order to achieve a greater understanding of their own lives, not just an understanding of God or the Spirit Center, by whatever name is given. You are asked always to explore, to look more deeply, to consider more carefully, to take risks in expanding your perceptions of what is important.

These communications that we have with you are no different. What we share with you are truths that have meaning and potential and impact for you, but the real value is not the words that are shared. It is rather what you do with those words. Do you take them and ask yourself, “How do I apply this? What are its implications? What can I draw from this well? By considering them can I go deeper in a kind of understanding of God that is appropriate for me at this time?” Or do you accept what is received in this manner at face value and refuse to go deeper? You have a choice. The followers of religions based on sacred texts have the same choice. They can choose to be led more deeply into a profound understanding of life, or they can accept at face value, at the surface level, the points, the remarks, the observations, the exhortations that are presented in a very literal sense.

You see, there is no single source that is uniquely only the Truth in its most complete form. As human beings you are asked to explore, to consider, to ponder, to question, to doubt. All of this is part of the growth of your own souls. A good teacher does not tell the students the facts, but leads the students to their own discoveries. Sacred texts as well as these communications, these messages, these communions are presented in the spirit of what it means to be an effective teacher, for we, your guides, are here to lead you through your own exploration. You are asked to grow. You are encouraged to question and to doubt. That is all part of what is necessary to grow as you are meant to in your human existence. And as you grow in your understanding, it is your own spirit that benefits most, for your spirit becomes deeper and wider, more brilliant in its radiation through its association with your own human efforts. If you write, if you minister to others in one way or another, if you serve others, if you enhance others, if you provide inspiration that makes others dig more deeply into their own lives, that commitment is central to your soul’s development as a loving presence, for all of those activities are addressed beyond the self and therefore are an expression and a fulfillment of God’s purposes of human life.

Concerns have been expressed about decisions for growth and development as a fetus. What can you do, what must you do, is there something you must not do? The fetus is a host, so to speak, of a soul committed to experiencing human life. Many decisions surround such events. Some are very profound; others less so. But whenever you are dealing with emerging life, these issues become appropriately pronounced. Such decisions as you have described are to be made by those who are most directly connected to that emerging life. All life is sacred, but the sacred quality of life is not just the emerging spirit, but the lives of all who must make the best decisions for the good of all. There are indeed grounds for life, as it starts, not to be continued, and there are grounds for continuing it, no matter what. How can such decisions be made? What do individuals have to face? If there is risk to the unborn and that risk is approached by adults who are indeed capable of being nonjudgmentally loving, then such an unborn child may be brought into fully conscious human life without denial.

Part of human experience is evaluating, understanding the capability of being loving. No human being can be Love, but all human beings can be loving. Some human beings are given strength to be loving in circumstances that are enormously challenging, but the potential, the capability is nevertheless present. Other human beings are not so far along in their developmental path toward nonjudgmental love. Making decisions affecting the future of the unborn must take into consideration both the welcoming entities and the unborn entity.

There are no absolutes concerning spiritual growth. There is a common goal that is shared by all, but if there were absolutes then some would succeed and some would fail through the determination of an absolute scale. Spiritual development is never measured by failing or succeeding. Spiritual development simply is. All people develop spiritually, some more obviously than others. Some would appear to develop more rapidly than others, but such appearances are meaningless. Decisions in human life can only be made based on your own understandings, understandings of what you feel is currently appropriate. It may be that two people would make a decision in one direction now, and yet at some point later, in your sense of time, they would make a decision vastly different. Was one decision right and the other decision wrong? If they pray to be guided to the right decision, the right decision will be evident to them and the right decision may change.

You are not given human life for the purpose of measuring yourselves according to a divine yardstick, because in so doing, there can only be winners and losers, those who are saved and those who are lost. Spiritual growth does not progress according to such a system. It is tempting to want to make decisions for others when you feel that a certain direction in the path is indicated, but it is important to remember that you are only on your own path. It may be parallel with another for a brief time, but your path, your growth, your development is yours and the development, the growth, the progression of another belongs to that other. Accepting the different characteristics of other paths is also a part of your own spiritual journey. You’re asked to be gracious, to give grace to others. You are never asked to agree with or to follow or to insist, for each person has his or her own path. In your being loving toward one another, it is important to allow those paths to evolve as they will evolve, trusting that they are evolving as they should, for indeed that is the truth.

All human beings experience the challenges of their own paths. That’s a fulltime occupation. It takes a lifetime of seeking the light in order to see the way. You proceed on your path with your own headlight. That headlight is your faith, it is your understanding of Spirit, it is your perception of a God. Keep your vision open to that light, that perception. Allow others to follow their own lights. Be supportive of others. Have faith that their lights are carrying them where they ultimately need to go. You will be blessed in your vision that encompasses the lights of all. Be sustained by the combined light.

Amen.