1993-02-02-Courage

Session

Opening

WELMEK: As always, it is my pleasure and honor to be able to be here. It is truly remarkable for us to continue to witness those of you who have come together in the Father's name. The energy and love that emanates from you is an example for your race if only they could observe and partake.

Dialogue

L: In the Urantia Book there's just two phrases that I copied that mentioned more of a definition, if you want to read those two, Scott.

S: Strength of character (156:5.17) and courage is the confidence of thoroughgoing honesty about those things which one professes to believe.(146:3.2)

(Break for group discussion)

The third spirit is actually one of the spirit of courage, is the basis of character acquirement and the root of moral stamina and spiritual bravery. It talks about how when the spirit of courage is enlightened by facts and inspired by truth, it becomes the urge of evolutionary ascension by the channels of intellectual and conscientious self-direction. So early on, we're more connected to the circuit, and then it becomes a more active intentional process on our part. It works in conjunction with the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of counsel, which are described there. If there are other people who are more learned in that area who would like to comment on these spirits and how courage evolves in mankind, I open it up to comment on that.

L: No one wants to share any more?

M: No one's ever been courageous. She's the only one. (laughter)

D: Can I read the one before that? I think that's something that I really..."You are hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping for the future. Cease your useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the establishment of the kingdom." (155:1.3)

Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.[1]

L: As humans, there is not a great deal of affecting to be done. You will be more aware of the Son's presence as you become more of a morontial life form. By the way, I have not introduced myself to you yet. My name is Lo-Kim. I too am a teacher here on your planet. It pleases me to be able to join you in this mission of seeking the Father's will and following through with others.

The wisdom throughout the universes is beyond my ability to comprehend, yet I see it manifested daily. Know that the Father loves each one of you and know that in time your awareness of this love will improve. I believe the wisdom of this event forthcoming will prove to mightily move you.

You have so much to rejoice about. Yet, since I have been here, I find that most mortals are in disarray. They do not seem to find happiness on this planet. While my words may sound confusing to you, for it is easy for me to say, you do not realize what it is you have right in front of you and within you. You have all the help that you need to live a happy and progressive life. It is literally true, you must simply choose it.

You who have given us life, we give our wills back to you. Lead us in the direction that you wish us to go. Because of you we are, and always will be. How is it that we repay you for such a gift? We thank you for the opportunity to experience life, to experience your love and to go forth on a journey unknown to us, anticipated with hope and excitement, and filled with love.

GROUP: Good night,

Welmek.Go in peace. Worship each day. I love you all. Good night.

When you find yourself down and out, think of Him. Go off by yourself and take two or three moments, still your mind, and give thanks for the opportunity of existence. Your text tells you and others have told you that worship and meditation are mighty restorers of sound mind.Remember these things my friends. Look forward to the opportunities of service as they present themselves to you. Do not be discouraged with your station in life. You are loved by the Father as everyone is loved by the Father. Look at each opportunity, each moment, as a chance to thank the Father for your life, for your existence.Go forth this next week and do not take yourselves quite so seriously.

I perceive, based on my association with all of you now for some time, this is one of the biggest obstacles in your way of significant meditation and communication. While it is important to maintain your existence, remember your position in universe standing. You have everything ahead of you. Your lives have just begun.This group remains strong as a whole, even thought personality associations at times fragment. Always keep your focus. I pray that you keep your focus. Irregardless of individual differences, remember what is important; and that is to love one another as your Master has asked you to love, even your enemies.

WELMEK: This is Welmek, and I wish to discuss next week's meeting and then adjourn. I would like to discuss group dynamics, how each of you play an integral part in making up the group and how to facilitate understanding and communication within a group. I believe we will take exception next week and not have a moderator. But be prepared with your thoughts, for each of you will be called upon to express your feelings and your thoughts in this regard.Your teacher, Welmek, has given me permission sometime in the not-so distant future to conduct a meeting on a topic of my own choosing. I thank him and I thank you for this opportunity.This is what you can look forward to, that is, generations from now. Your planet will not go unsettled. This has been told to you before and it has been broadcast throughout this entire superuniverse. There are many who hail from all sectors of the superuniverse now. The reports from Urantia are broadcast daily on the circuits and all watch with great anticipation. It is much like when Michael himself walked your planet in the local universe, only now all the superuniverse eyes are on you. Even the Ancients of Days know who you are and what you do.When you get together as a group, worship as a group. I would encourage this. Your teacher tells me that for the most part, this is left up to you. When you get together as smaller groups, two or three, always start out your conversation with a tone of love and of peace of mind in reflection of the Father's will. I believe that if you do this, you will find conversation and communication to be slightly altered.

If your race would communicate accordingly, disagreements would be settled without the shedding of blood. Your people would be fed and clothed and housed. Your distribution of wealth would be radically altered. There would be no national sovereignty; there would be a Urantian government, and this planet would be transformed.

On my planet of nativity, physical death, barring accidents, has been virtually eliminated. All mortals translate. Needless to say our planet has been settled for eons of time. I never experienced death as you will experience it more than likely. Heavenly Father, on behalf of all of my brothers and sisters gathered here tonight, on behalf of all of the brothers and sisters within my universe, I ask that you bless these individuals here this evening, that they may become more wholehearted in their dedication to your will. Help them understand more fully the purpose of this mission. Help them to be able to feel your love.

Try this if you can. I am told that humans need technique. What I would suggest, within your mind, visualize this group as one. Find a point of energy within your mind and conceive of this point of energy as the group. Each individual now radiate the love of the Father into this light as much as you can.When we worship as a group, we focus on the group energy. We project our love out, each as individuals, to a central point. This energy, as you know, when shared by more than one, is not an arithmetic proportion; it is a geometric proportion. The more that are gathered and truly project out this love, the greater the response back to each individual. This energy, this stillness, this love, sustains us. This is where we find our peace of mind, our comfort. We find our hopes and desires here also.

L/K: If I may, let us take a moment and I will share with you a form of worship that we experience.....It is not unlike what you do. The words in my language are not apparent at all in David's mind, so I will do my best. As you try to do, so do we, and so does every creature that I have come in contact with in the 70-some odd thousand of your years of experience. Each person, when ready to engage in worship, will quiet the activity of their mind, and allow the love that is within them to be made real. Take one moment to find the stillness within yourself.

D: What can we say after this? Hopefully, when you have experienced this and your faith has grown beyond that which it is now, when you are with someone who is ready to pass on, you will be able to hold their hand, look into their eyes and transfer this love without even speaking a word. Trust me, my friends, they will feel that which emanates from you, for God's love is no respecter of persons.You will also understand more about the phenomenon of death than you do now. I have heard comments this evening that if you express your faith courageously you realize that death is simply a transitional phase from one plane of existence to another. While these words are true, there is still a significant difference between the intellectual concept and the reality focus, the reality understanding, of that which you call death. You should, I hope and pray, be better prepared to face this transition, not only yourself, but for those that you see go through it. Each of you do what you can now. This is understood. Be prepared to enhance, to enlarge your concepts of love and service. There will be many who will come to you and ask questions. Some will ridicule you while others will look up to you as one who has even seen the Father Himself. Be always humble in your approach. Be courageous in your defense of truth. Be spontaneous in bestowing the love of God as you understand and feel it. Never, as I have said, hide from the light of truth. It is liberating.

L/K:All that is needed has already been given to you. There is no substitute for constant communion with the Father. In conjunction with that, your prayers are most needed and appreciated. When you think of your brothers and sisters, always remember who you are and who they are. You are all literally brothers and sisters. It is time that you all act this way.

A: Do you have any instructions as to how we can get ready?I, from my brief association with you, do not believe that any of you yet fully comprehend the significance of what is about to take place, for nothing quite like this has happened to you before. Be ready. It will be fascinating.

L/K:As I understand, this will be for the most part, bestowal upon those who are in attendance. There will be a certain spill-over to the other members of groups who are willing to participate in this mission. However, as you already are aware, there are two other visits by Melchizedeks scheduled, and at those meetings this same energy will be applied. It is the purpose of this part of the mission to enhance all willing members' love and understanding as to what is going on.

L: I have a question regarding the bestowal of this increased spiritual energy or whatever, whether it's an increase in the Spirit of Truth or what, is this going to be bestowed only on those who attend this materialization, or is it a general bestowal on the planet that we perhaps might be more aware of because we are trying to tune in to spiritual matters.The gift that is going to be bestowed in regards to a greater understanding love, a greater courage, if you will, should prove to be a valuable asset. It is in my opinion, literally true, your lives will change once this event takes place. You will have more consciously entered the kingdom of heaven and you will more consciously willing to realize the duties and privileges that go along with it. Already we have had opportunities within my universe to invite some Urantian mortals who have fused to follow through with assignments. It has been curious and exciting to see these creatures work in the absence of those who are familiar with them, yet who have without reservation, complete and wholehearted faith and love in the Father.

I am beginning to see the wisdom of the decision between Michael and the Ancients of Days regarding this Lucifer incident. It should be most fascinating as time progresses, to see just exactly how those of you who have experienced this incident have literally lived through it and have had the courage to survive it will be of service in the future. I know my answer is vague. I have not a great deal of experience with humans nor am I fully versed on your text. I hail from a different universe than yours. I must say, however, where I come from, our Creator Son is not much different than yours. It is fascinating to me to experience such diverse life forms as what I have seen within Nebadon.

In my universe, rebellion has never been experienced. Even the relationship with the Father is most difficult for you to intellectually conceptualize. This concept that has been expressed through your text as the Father, while I may agree in its intent as the best, highest concept possible, does fall considerably short of what you will be able to experience once you take on your new life form. Even those who traverse the first and second mansion worlds, their consciousness of the Father is enhanced substantially.

Part of the reason for this, aside from the fact that you have a different mindset, you have a different sensing mechanism, is the reality of knowing with your own senses that there is more than just what you see in life in the flesh. The Eternal Son's presence deals more in the area of mercy, of understanding God in a general sense in your life. What your text describes to you as the relationship between you and this Son is most perplexing, for your comprehension is not yet to the point that you can understand these relationships.

D: Welmek, I was reading in the paper on the Eternal Son, and I had a question regarding how the Eternal Son's presence in our lives, how his presence can affect our lives, because the Thought Adjuster works directly with us but the Eternal Son's presence works through us or around us. I understand a little bit of the ministry of the Spirit are around us, but how does the Son's presence affect us?

WELMEK: I will entertain a few questions. There is a host of personalities here who are ready to respond.

MARY: This prayer is very short. Michael, our father-brother. We ask for the courage to go forth in this mission and our daily lives with intelligence, integrity, tolerance and love. Help us to remember to keep our minds on the things that you have given us and the truth that you have bestowed upon us in our lives through your love, through your actions and through the things you've shown us through our friends, our unseen friends. We ask that you will help us to balance our character, all of our characters, and increase in our spiritual growth through application of the things that we've learned. Amen.

Why don't we end your meeting, and then I wish to re-engage.It matters not what others think of you in regard to ridicule or persecution. As your text has told you, the truly courageous are those who lay down their lives not for sovereignty of nations, but for the reality and expression of the Father. Be ever concerned about the way in which you do things. It is courageous to live the life in the flesh while you experience God.

W: And I am here to tell you tonight on behalf of the Melchizedeks and Gabriel himself, that upon viewing the Melchizedek in April of this year, you will be reinforced with your courage, with this Spirit of Truth. This is a gift that is being given to you to help you go forth to spread this good news. There are those who are curiosity seekers, this is true. We pray constantly for those who joined this mission, that their faith will become firm, their hope and trust in the Father will become real in their daily living to the point that when you are called upon to share this love, you will not hide behind the mask of uncertainty and doubt. You will step forth courageously in the light of truth. Always, my friends, shield before you the love of the Father. Within this love, everything is possible and all truth will be known.

GROUP: Yes.W: It will be interesting for us to observe you to see what you have learned from this (?) association. Words are easy to speak, actions are more difficult to exhibit. He who said that we have yet to experience courage is accurate in this mission. Do you perceive that when the Spirit of Truth was bestowed upon those at the time of Christ, this added courage, reinforced courage to their character?

L: Your turn, Welmek.

A: Discussion first. Mary's going to close with a prayer focused on courage, but if you'd like to have open discussion first, then we'll end the whole meeting with that prayer.

L: So developing the self-possession and the resolution and the confidence is what we need to do to prepare. Maybe that's why we continue to hear the focus on the same tools to practice and become proficient as we have them at our access.

K: We ain't seen nothing yet.

M: I get the feeling too, that the true test of our courage is yet to come.

K: We all know that there are things that are being written, especially about this group, that many people are reading; and it takes courage to continue to do what we're doing in spite of what other people are writing against us.

S: If someone tries to challenge your beliefs, tries to tell you that what you're doing is something other than what you know it to be, it takes courage to be able to look that person in the eye and say "I know what I believe in. I know that I am right within myself.

"D: I think courage gives you the strength to remain steadfast in your faith.

L: So developing that attribute in yourself so that you can share the thoughts, love, and what you understand in terms of the fatherhood and brotherhood...(Comment inaudible)L: So how do you see courage playing a role for us now, in the process that we're in as far as learning, living our faith.

S: We're taking the ultimate dare right now.Children always respond to the challenge of courage. Youth is ever willing to take a dare. Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

L: And the last one? All right, I'll read it. "Jesus instructs his followers: 'Love with fatherly as well as brotherly affection.' And he went on to describe four supreme reactions of fatherly love (140:5.15 )

L: And then the last one.

M: "True and genuine inward certainty does not in the least fear outward analysis, nor does truth resent honest criticism. You should never forget that intolerance is the mask covering up the entertainment of secret doubts as to the trueness of one's belief. No man is at any time disturbed by his neighbor's attitude when he has perfect confidence in the truth of that which he wholeheartedly believes." (146:3.2 )

L: And then (143:1.7),..."No armies of the world have ever displayed more courage and bravery than will be portrayed by you and your loyal successors who shall go forth to all the world proclaiming the good news - the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men." This is what Jesus shared with his apostles.

S: ".. isolation of these spheres affords their races of the unique opportunity for the exercise of faith and for the development of a peculiar quality of confidence in cosmic reliability which is not dependent on sight or any other material consideration. It may turn out, eventually, that mortal creatures hailing from the worlds quarantined in consequence of rebellion are extremely fortunate. We have discovered that such ascenders are very early intrusted with numerous special assignments to cosmic undertakings where unquestioned faith and sublime confidence are essential to achievement." (50:7.1)

I've got a few quotes in here that I like and I don't want to read all of them, but there's four that I think might be real worth reading before we discuss it. If somebody would read the first one, I think this is something we've heard from the teachers before, but it's kind of interesting. I thought maybe we'd start thinking about ourselves.We talked about preparation for service. What part do you think courage will play for us in terms of what we're learning now and what service we might be willing to fulfill in working with the teachers and this mission.

L: I'd like to share one thing for myself. I feel like my understanding of letting the Father's love and the Father support me and drawing some strength and focus in facing problems is really becoming a personal experience for me that I didn't have before. I think the more we practice our worship and our prayer, I think the more that will become true for all of us in even our small problems that we face.

D: I think it takes a certain amount of courage for people to read the Urantia Book and then to try to explain that to people who don't have the perspective that we get when we read it and to go against tradition and to try to share the truth with people who are unbelieving for whatever reason. I think that it really does take a fair amount of courage to remain faithful with ridicule or objections or whatever negative comments that are put forth. I think that everyone here exhibits a lot of courage just by coming here and in reading the book and being a part of this Teaching Mission.

A: Well, just recently I got married. It was a giant leap of faith on my part because I didn't think I'd ever do it again (laughter). I understood it in my mind, but my emotional body had experienced so much hurt in this world that trusting it was a real leap of faith. And as I took the leap of faith, as I take it, I'm still in it, I find that gifts are being offered to me beyond my comprehension, just way beyond. Just being here in this room is part of it. I call this externalization of the hierarchy. As I see it happening, it's just so exciting to me to be part of this. That's directly related to my ability to take the leap of faith which I consider this to be, by being here, it's an act of courage.

L: Can you explain that more specifically?

A: I'd just say that in my personal experience, the more courage I demonstrate, the more goodness that comes to me. It seems to be directly related to the gifts being offered. Does anybody want to share any experiences about themselves about how they experienced courage in their lives that might pertain to what we've been talking about? In terms of balancing character traits, the one thing as I read through definitions and stuff, there's a lot of reference when you look at the harmonics or the musical definitions, they have a lot of truth with you think about what we're trying to do in terms of going from dissonance to consonance. I think balancing our character traits can bring ourselves to the greatest health and the most completeness that we can is kind of a similar process or result of a similar process.

L: One of the things that kind of came to me in reading through all this stuff was just how clear the tools that we've been practicing, are being taught, the worship and the prayer and the meditation and communing with the Father are so important in looking at courage as well as other things, in facing problems to draw your strength from that, in terms of spiritual growth, taking your issues and your process into those situations to work that out with the Father yourself. It seems like things are crystalizing more for me as we get into more of the topics.

S: On number three, for purpose of courage, we discussed the fact that faith is needed to sustain courage; and a wonderful example of courage is our Master who used prayer and worship daily to help sustain himself. Mike even pointed out that it takes courage to evolve. For spiritual growth, we concluded that spiritual growth inspires courage and courage inspires spiritual growth. For the importance of balancing attributes of character, we concluded that courage without recklessness should be our consideration because too much courage can get you in a lot of trouble.

A: We did (laughter). Basically we said that good judgment would help.

L: Did you talk about balance?

A: We summed up our discussion by saying that courage is faith in action.

C: I made the comment that everybody in the world whether they're God-knowing or not can have courage. But I think the true courage, as it states in this statement here, talks about only religious courage, living faith can sustain man. I really think that statement is true, because those people who are not God-knowing get to a point where they don't know where else to turn. Then they kind of lose their courage. That's why I made the statement that you have to have an open mind and a willingness to learn in order to fulfill the true purpose of courage.

M: I think it would probably be difficult to sum up exactly what our discussion was about. We seemed not to have a lot of cohesion; and I'm not sure that we came to any kind of consensus about what it is that we were discussing. But Cheryl had some thoughts about the need for courage among people who are not God-knowing that seemed to be more what we thought about, the dilemma facing people who were unlike ourselves, that is, do not have an understanding of God. The thinking was that those people, those persons need to have the courage to have an open mind, and work to explore other possibilities of living. How'd I do? Was that fairly accurate? If I missed anything, please add to it.

D: We came to the consensus that the purpose of courage given to us so that we would have the strength to carry on, just living and carrying on with our daily lives. If we didn't have that, we would be (?) by the fears that have beset us and this is one way to overcome that. It is when you trust and have the ability to commune with the Father that gives you the strength with which to overcome the thinking of the past and to look at life in a new way. It gives you the ability to feel that confidence in the Father's plan which ultimately results in the (?). Courage, also, is the distinction between what we referred to as "living" and "existence", living your life as you choose to live it and existing. It also has a lot to do with attitude and motivation, to get up off your duff and do something. The balancing, the word we came up with was the importance or the lack of importance of pride. Pride gets in the way, pride causes...that's where the line kind of bounces around between pride and humility.

S: We found courage to be very important. Courage is necessary for a sense of order in society in order for people to come together. Were there no courage whatsoever, we would not have any form of society language, nothing because everybody would be huddled in their little caves and afraid to go anywhere, if they got that far.Then for the importance of balancing the attributes of character, we decided that too little courage would have no follow-through, very little outcome and that too much courage would create arrogance and ignorance.

M: We decided that as far as the purpose of courage, the purpose of courage was to consistently demonstrate to our brothers and sisters by providing challenges to grow. The spiritual growth...without courage, how can you grow? That's the question. Courage is creating the desire to be honest with oneself, and it's undeniable pursuit of honesty and truth.(small group discussions) If you would take time to talk about the purpose of courage and the role of that in our lives and also the importance of balancing courage with the other character attributes. Then we'll share that back with the group maybe in about 10 minutes? Five minutes per topic?

Then what I think we can do in our small groups again is talk about the role and purpose of courage. Within that, I thought of two categories of topics of information. One was that it would sustain man amongst problems and there are two quotes that pertain to that.Then the other is pertaining to our spiritual growth and decision making. There are quite a few quotes there. Does it work best to read those within the group, or would you like to read them as a group as a whole. Or do you want to use those to refer to in your small group discussions?...Not read them out loud? Okay.

They are the children of the Mother Spirit. They're not really entities, but they're circuits; and they're the Mother Spirit's personal ministry to the creatures on planets. They arrive on a planet with the Life Carriers; and they basically endow mankind with a mind function. My understanding in that what happens in interaction with the life forms on a planet is logged for the first five spirits on the Life Carrier headquarters in terms of quantitative and qualitative and then six and seven adjutant mind spirits, which are worship and prayer, are qualitatively recorded, but quantitatively they are recorded within Salvington, registered or logged, I'm not quite sure.

L: While I was reading through the Urantia Book, the different quotes that were in the book and I tried to form some kind of a flow for tonight's meeting, I kind of grouped things in categories. One of the things that I came on, I hadn't really read about the adjutant mind spirits for a while and I thought that was really kind of interesting in terms of thinking about courage.

GROUP: Thank you. Remember always, it is not what you do, but it is how you do it that matters most to the Father. To be courageous is to speak truth. To be courageous is to show forth the Father's love. Whether or not you believe in the Father has no bearing on love, for love pervades all. Time will replace the absence of concept in one's mind as regards the Father, but love is universal. Wherever and whenever it is expressed, God is shown forth. Thank you. To me, courage is a desire to express our Father's love to your brothers and sisters. The measure of courage as it manifests itself in your personality is directly related to the love expressed to one another. As courage dominates your personality, you become more cosmic-conscious. You become more aware of universe status. As this awareness grows, while you live the life of the flesh, you begin to realize that even in maintaining material existence negative thoughts of complaining no longer have room in your being. These thoughts become transformed into positive energies of service, of hope and of love.

GREGORY: Greetings my brothers and sisters. My name is Gregory and I am the teacher of your two new friends here this evening. It pleases me to be able to speak to a group, for I have yet to be able to do this on my sojourn on your planet.

W: I have several requests to take the floor, and I will allow a new teacher that most of you are unfamiliar with to speak. One moment please.

L: Does Welmek want to comment or should we go on with our discussion?

A: We decided that in courage there must always be an element of uncertainty, and we felt that individuals could most readily act with courage when they felt strength within themselves to act more courageous and felt comfortable with themselves. We also felt mindal courage was a thought process rather than a courageous act that was instinctive.

M: I think Felicia was over there. . ..(laughter) You followed her example.

G: Courage is motivated by faith, liberated from fear, augmented by confidence and conditioned by integrity. (laughter) I didn't think it, I just wrote it.

M: We came up with that courage is the consistent demonstration of the living faith in the Father and love for our brothers and sisters.

J: Maintaining faith in God and trust in self in the face of fear and adversity, with commitment and resolve.

C: Courage is the action or the following-through of an intention, whether it be spiritual or physical. It can be both or it can be one or the other. We originally had it in the context of spiritual and following through with God's will; but not everybody in the universe even knows of God and they still have courage in their life. That's why we thought it would be something active, other than spiritual words.

S: We reached a consensus for a definition of courage and that is courage is maintaining self-control by trusting and focusing on one's highest values in the face of apparent danger.

L: Let's take a minute and discuss that in your group. Would you like to just discuss the whole topic, do you want to just go through all three categories and read the rest of the quotes within your groups? Would that be better? Okay.

M: Self-possession, self-mastery. Jesus was the perfect specimen of<