Being at peace.

October 8, 1983

God and we are with you all now and always. There is little difference in your lives at this moment than at other times during your daily activities. Often you come to these meetings and you sense an increased presence of God. The truth is God’s presence is not increased—it is only your receptivity. Think for a moment what it is that produces this receptive environment. First of all, it is peace. It is the opportunity of putting away concerns of the moment and allowing yourselves almost to drift, to be at once a part of that peace and a cause of it. The peace presents each of you with the opportunity of drawing from what is beyond you to all that is within. 

External peace has with it the potential for inner peace. At this time, although there may be some concerns, there is a sense of inner peace, and it is this which is felt in such great abundance as compared with other moments, even within the framework of this day. Imagine your lives characterized by the achievement of such calm on a daily basis. You may say that it is either impossible or impractical. It is neither. You do not need to withdraw for a couple of hours. Even five minutes of just being a part of life—not trying to control it or respond to it, but being able to float, as it were, in a sense of timelessness—allows you the opportunity of drawing enormous spiritual energy. It also allows you the chance of regaining physical strength and endurance, for you are allowing the physical side of your life to back off and not to dominate, thereby providing a chance for the spiritual part of you to come to the front as a controller of your life. 

Each of your guides feels that every one of you allows insufficient opportunity in your lives for backing away physically and letting your spiritual selves dominate. Much is thereby lost—not in a sense of going backwards, but in losing the opportunity for moving forward. Your lives are busy with many activities—physical, intellectual, emotional—but these activities are not of prime importance, although they do dominate the majority of your available time. 

We cannot suggest that you withdraw from the process of being active in daily living, but only that you make an effort to find time in your lives daily for settling back and being at peace. If you feel that there are days when such cannot happen, then perhaps it is because you choose for it not to happen. Not all that takes place in a day is the result of external influences. Part of everything you do is done through your own choice. You can find time. It may be early in the morning. It may be in the evening just before falling asleep. The time is not important, but allowing for an opportunity is. 

Each of you is aware of the potential which exists in your group for actualizing the will of God. We do not wish to seem constantly repetitive, but you must be continually urged to find ways of reaching out to one another, reaching out to respond to the needs of others within the group. Your group can be viewed on a very small scale, but in practice it provides experience and techniques for reaching outward to a far greater circle. You are all brought together by a faith in God. You also know that there is a part of each of you that is indeed divine. Therefore, part of the reason you gather should be to exercise your faith in one another. 

How can you exercise such faith? What does it mean to have faith in another when you identify faith as directed to God? On a superficial level you can consider faith as a confidence in someone, but that is only the beginning. For you to have faith in the deepest meaning of the word, toward another implies that you recognize the godly qualities present in another human being. Such qualities do not imply perfection, for none of you is perfect. They do not imply power or influence. What then is implied by such faith? Simply the recognition of the presence of love. Such presence means a decreased influence of self, a decrease in the importance of image or power. 

If you reach out in love to another, what you must first do is listen. It is the one who listens who most strongly demonstrates the presence of love. When you listen, you hear God. When you listen to another person, you hear the God in that person. When you listen, you do not criticize. When you listen, you do not judge. When you listen, you do not threaten. When you listen, you do not dominate. When you listen, you accept. It does not mean agree, but accept. It is first of all in listening, therefore, that you become a reflection of that part of God that is contained within, and it is through listening that you grow to recognize the godliness of another. 

Sometimes simply to be there is the greatest contribution that you can offer. It is not a judgmental presence. It is a presence with quiet calm and reserve. It is a presence which speaks of loyalty and is a direct reflection of love. It is a presence which has within it the potential for expressing peace. 

Each of you should be more willing to spend time simply listening—listening in peace to God and listening in peace to another. Such sensitivity is not easy to acquire as a dominant trait. It takes discipline but it is extremely important. Your goal in life is in serving others but such service requires listening, for you serve others by reflecting God, and the reflecting of God is the most strong when you listen. God’s reflection is indeed silent. It is never self-assertive or boisterous. It is never impatient or dominant. It is always silent. You know you reflect God not by what you say but by what you do, and what you do is a reflection of who you are. Let all that you do be governed by what you experience through listening. 

We listen to you in your daily living. You listen to us at times like these. It is quiet and it is in such silence that you hear most strongly. We pray that you may grow to be better listeners, that you may be more sensitive to what is being said around you. Whether that is verbal or nonverbal is unimportant. It is important only that you be open and ready to listen. We can help you to develop the techniques of being better listeners. That is part of our function in your life, and it is part of our training at this level. We learn to listen to God as well as to you. You learn to listen to those around you as well as to God. 

We bless each of your lives through the presence of God, for without God none of this would take place. God permeates the totality of creation. God is part of your existence and of ours. God is essential to your and our becoming more sensitive to listening. 

We thank you for your prayers on our behalf and wish you to be assured of our constant effort toward the individual and collective growth of you all. 

Amen.