The Sword of Your Attention Is the Gate to Mastery - Part I
O holy flame of freedom, all encompassing embrace of Almighty God, I adore thy presence in the universe!
The sacredness of each hour consecrated to thy recognition brings to all the very sustenance of the life-force that is within them and brings to them the happiness of the ages in great paeans of praise for thy love and thy service to life universal and to life individualized.
I am pouring out from the center of my being the concentration and consecration of the great flame of freedom which thou art, O God!
O thou mighty I AM Presence, enfold all now in this flame of their identity that they may know thee, the only true God[1], the being of their own individualized worlds, their life, and their portion!
Precious heart-friends of the ages, as I am come to you this day in the holy name of freedom, I am reminded once again of the minute state of man’s consciousness when it insists upon revolving the little happenings of the day as though they were important and fails to take into account the great allotment of heaven which is the portion of every man.
It reminds me somewhat of a small boy trying to sail a paper boat in a teacup, for it is somewhat difficult for this to occur with any great degree of happiness.
And therefore I urge all to expand the mighty radiance of their being and their sense of the universe out from the focus of freedom’s flame within them, until they are able to recognize the magnitude of life and not insist upon revolving the universe around themselves as though they were the center of that universe and all life but existed to satisfy their own ephemeral and passing being.
Inasmuch as this cannot be so, then let all recognize that the reverse is true.
And if Life is ever to become known as it is intended to be, man must first of all recognize the supremacy of his own great God Self and recognize that the individualization of that Self must first revolve around the central purposes of creation ere the purposes of creation will deign to revolve around his own central being.
Do you see, beloved ones, how it is necessary that man shall first offer himself to the great purposes of freedom in order that he may obtain that freedom, individually speaking?
I have observed courtiers through the ages—kings, princes, and noblemen, as well as those of lesser domain—who have somehow sought to cheat the Great Law and have felt that it was not important what they thought or how they acted so long as they were able to obtain the specific puny desires of their mortal self and their ego-induced purposes.
These individuals have ever so frequently cried out to me with their last gasping breath and asked that I would sustain them and render them some form of deliverance from their own self-imposed bondage; and I have been kindly disposed to grant that request in each and every case which has occurred.
And yet the Great Law has not permitted me to intervene to extend their life’s portion but in very few cases for the simple reason that innumerable opportunities were given to them before that event occurred; and therefore it became necessary that these individuals should depart the screen of life and should be taken to schools of light where they might find their minds transformed by the renewing power of Life itself.
Individuals do not realize the great karmic responsibility which the Karmic Board themselves have.
They fail to take into account the responsibility of the great as being as deep and moving as the responsibility of the small.
Man must realize, and should, that those of us given a more than ordinary responsibility for life must exercise it diligently and give account of our stewardship.
Therefore the great Karmic Board is not always able to grant every request which mankind asks for, particularly when there is no demonstrable evidence of that individual’s having paid allegiance to Life or availed himself of opportunities that were dispensed to him in response to a multitude of calls which he then buried beneath a bushel of human neglect.
I would like to call to the attention of all of the students that the great mercy of Life is always kindly disposed, whenever possible, to set aside karmic matters and to give a lifestream the full privilege of exercising his own individual mission upon the planetary body.
When, however, by reason of gross recalcitrance and neglect, that individual reaches a point where the law can no longer intervene in a just manner, it is necessary that the bar of judgment itself shall exercise its power and that that individual be summoned before the bar of judgment to give account for the energy and the use of that energy which he has in life been given.
I point this out to the students today not in order to lower a hammer of fear over the heads of mankind, but to bring forth the most merciful understanding in the consciousness of the students that they will then not have any feeling whatsoever concerning the Karmic Board and its judgments or assessments, but that they will recognize that they themselves are in the main responsible for all such final actions which are taken at the close of any specific embodiment.
Mankind, then, must consider how deeply the members of the Karmic Board ponder each matter pertaining to a lifestream.
Humility is the forte of every member of the Karmic Board, and there is never any personal feeling of vengeance which is wreaked upon any individual as a result of the judgment of the Karmic Board.
The Karmic Board sustain the flame of freedom wherever possible and as long as possible, as long as the Great Law will permit and allow.
I urge, therefore, that greater understanding enter into the heart and mind of mankind concerning their own direct responsibility for the administration of the law.
Ultimately, mankind will find that they must face themselves; and it is to themselves that they must pay allegiance.
At first this statement may seem strange to those who are not familiar with the great universal law of the circle.
But if you will consider for a moment the fact that you yourselves issued forth from the heart of your own true reality, the great being of God which you in reality are, you will understand that you must one day meet the return of that reality through the cycle of being and stand face to face with the radiant perfection of the image of God in which you were created.
If, then, that which you have sustained and elected to sustain does not in itself appear to match the brightness of the appearing of your Divine Presence, it is necessary that the Presence itself shall amend in you those conditions of imperfection.
Sometimes, perchance, it is needful that this great Presence of Life shall say to you, “You must again descend through the eternal cycles and be prepared to take reembodiment upon the planet in order to make right those conditions which you did not make right in your previous embodiments.”
Then again, the Great Law, recognizing the tremendous merit of a lifestream, will make it possible at inner levels for an individual, after a number of years of purging and purification, to make the ascension from inner levels and make right there those conditions which were not mended here.
However, I would strongly advocate that no one should fancy for one moment that he may be given that opportunity.
This is usually given only to the few and not to the many; for most adjustments are made right here where the ills themselves are created—in human form and in embodiment.
Therefore I say to all at this specific time, facing the advent of the Christmas season, it is necessary, in order to imbibe from the fount of happiness the great essence of Christ consciousness, that you recognize the spirit of justice that manifests in every divine release.
So long as mankind fancy in their own consciousness that injustice exists in the universal law, they cannot manifest the great law of perfection of their own being.
The very fact that man can conceive that God is unjust of necessity warps the lens of his perception so that he is not able to perceive the purity of truth.
I urge all who have at any time considered the idea that the universe is unjust to amend their own decision here and now and recognize the great perfection of being.
All that mankind demonstrate that is imperfect, all that is lacking in freedom, is the result of their own doing and must be mended by a response of their lifestream to the ministrations of Love.
The great power of God, the great power of his infinite love, surrounds man at all times, waking or sleeping.
I ask you, then, What accountability ought the human soul to feel for this great love when first it becomes fully made known to the lifestream?
When a lifestream stands before the radiant love and the wonder of God’s presence, he cannot at first realize or perceive how this great love could not have been made known to him before.
Ever so often at inner levels we hear the cry “Why, this love has just come into being! It is just now beginning to manifest!”
And when they are told this is the love that always was and that did not begin to be, they are surprised and they say, “Why was I not made aware of it before?”
And it is then that the weight of human density which they have carried about with them can be safely revealed to them, and they realize that it is their own human imperfections and their own vain ideas and their own wrong use of energy that have woven the substance of shadow between their own sense of vision of the love of Infinite God and their own apparent power to see.
I therefore urge sight for the blind.
Let the spiritual eyes of men be opened!
Let them have their freedom to see the power of God’s love!
And as they behold his radiant love in manifestation, let them not solely at the moment that I am speaking feel this great power, but let this power be with you through every hour of the day and the night!
You cannot enter into and obtain your freedom, beloved ones, through placing your attention upon human discord and the patterns of imperfection which are manifesting in the world.
You cannot obtain your freedom through a mere state of surcease from outer distress.
If at this moment we were to relieve all of your burdens and you were free from them, this would not guarantee to you that you would have your eternal freedom.
You must not only be free from outer distresses, but you must be able to enter into the heart of your eternal freedom.
We would not have you in a state of vacuum or a state of being lukewarm.
We would lift you to the great fire of perfection!
We would lift you to the altar of Almighty God, to the altar of your being, that you may swear fealty with loving heart to this great God Self that is your true being, that you may recognize in the perfection of your Divine Presence your own self, and that you may know that all else that has seemed to be your True Self has been but vanity and the rubble of human discontent.
How can mankind today find their freedom then?
“Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; ask, and ye shall receive.”[2]
These statements seem so simple; but the wherewithal of finding the way seems at times to be more difficult than is stated in words.
I urge, therefore, that every son of freedom place his attention upon the great light and shall not direct his attention away from that to other things.
As I am speaking to you today, I am consecrating my energies to the memory of many whom I have met through the ages who have not yet obtained their freedom.
As they stood in my presence, arrayed in cloth of gold and splendor shining and jewels—and some in rags—they did not know or recognize that freedom which I had eternally within me.
They did not recognize that the same freedom was within themselves, and therefore today they are still begging for freedom from the heart of God.
May I ask that the attention of all be placed upon my words.
All distractions, beloved hearts, at these times of dictation are not welcome; for they do cause some distress in the instrument.
I urge you to be diligent, to keep your attention upon the Most High God.
These releases are coming forth in most troubled times to mankind, and we must have your full attention.
Blessed ones, I then would return in thought now to those I knew long ago at the court of France. I would return also to those I knew in England and in various parts of Europe, in Hungary, in Transylvania, and throughout the world, even in China.
And I would say to all of you that some of these are today occupying positions of authority in the world and some of these are occupying quite simple and plain positions.
However, many of them have forgotten their momentary contact—or contact of some longevity—with me.
These individuals today find the memory of their great God Self has grown dim to them and the flame of freedom is no longer a reality.
There was a time when, by proximity to my own lifestream, they sensed the fires of their own being.
Why, then, has this condition occurred?
Why have they seemed to retrogress?
Beloved ones, it is solely in this matter of their own attention.
I have spoken in the past, many times urging the attention of the chelas upon their God Self.
Somehow it seems that man does not realize the fullness of the meaning of placing his attention upon his own God Self.
It is as though the God Self in some way tended to rob him of his identity; and this is not true.
By putting your attention upon your God Self, you are obtaining your identity; by putting it upon your human self, you are losing that identity.
Do you see, then, the meaning of this release?
I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that there are powers in opposition to the release of this which I am bringing forth to you today.
There are powers that do not wish to have you obtain your freedom.
These powers would keep you bound to the senseless round of diversion which is indeed, if I may express it so, a merry-go-round which, while it may have some temporary delights, certainly cannot be compared to the glory and freedom of our octaves.
I say to you, then, having once embarked upon this ride, why do mankind continue to repeat the cycles of their own densities?
In almost every case when individuals perform some act for which they are later sorry, they say to themselves, “I will not do this again”; and so they resolve that they shall not.
But then when the cycles of the days turn, once again they seem to ride upon this horse of human folly; and they do not recognize that the steed upon which they ride is breathing fire and brimstone upon the neck of mankind and also that behind them, from the pit of human density, is another steed breathing fire and brimstone upon their own neck.
[1] John 17:3.
[2] Matt. 7:7.
The Sword of Your Attention Is the Gate to Mastery - Part II
I say this with some degree of solemnity today, because the time has come when all of the students who desire to have their freedom must recognize the sober facts pertaining to the law of karma and pertaining to their own being.
I have in the past felt the need—but have not always amplified it as I would—to remind the students that these hours when we are given the opportunity of speaking to you are unusual times, that these messages are brought to you for your admonishment and for the release of our spiritual energy so that we may bring you to a higher state of spiritual fruition.
I will acknowledge and I must remind you of something that perhaps some of you do not know, and that is that there is a tremendous life-force released during these dictations—so much so that some feel so much more elated and better after listening to a dictation from one of us than they did before that they go forth and proceed to utilize this energy in the service of human imperfection.
I want you, ladies and gentlemen, to recognize what I have just said; and therefore I choose to repeat it in another way.
Mankind sometimes enter the sanctity of our aura and draw and utilize our energy, which we are releasing in the holy name of freedom, and use the buoyancy of that release to satisfy the purposes of human creation rather than utilize it in the service of the great light.
And this is a solemn and awesome responsibility which I have long vowed I would one day declare to the students in order that they might recognize the measure of concentration and consecration which the Great Law would demand of them in order to give them the desires for which their own souls cry out.
Down through the ages, one man has walked beside another and suddenly, like horses at a racetrack, one has pulled out ahead.
Who is watching with bated breath this great race where one receives the prize, where one is left behind?[1]
Who, I ask you, beloved ones?
Are not all who run in this race children of the one Father?
And is it not true, then, that for each son set free to win the great prize, the Father does rejoice, and for each son who fails to apprehend the power that is within him to run well in this race, the Father has regret?
I tell you then, beloved ones, that those who fall behind and do not press forward to win the prize are given the same opportunities as those that elect to pull out from the mass herd and obtain for themselves their own freedom.
Now I call to your attention that each child of the light that is presently in human form is today—whenever that one has a sense of struggle—actually burning up the vital energies of his being in sensing the struggle that seems to embroil him in the great battlefields of life.
By releasing themselves from this sense of struggle, by pondering upon the fact that they themselves are the children of God rightfully entitled to the fullness of their victory, they enter into the spirit of Christ-peace.
And by obtaining that feeling of Christ-peace, they are able to forsake the manner of human thought and the qualities thereof and to feel the great pressure of their God Self desiring to bring them to the fullness of Christ-accomplishment.
Now men yearn within themselves for the power of levitation, for the power to step outside the body temple, for the power to transform simple objects into jewels, to win for themselves approbation from men as magnificent alchemists.
Let me tell you, beloved ones, that those who are able to refine the gold of being, to bring forth within themselves the spirit of reverence for God and for the ascended masters, have the power to do all these things given to them in due time.
But in most cases, when once they have obtained this power, they find that it is not nearly so important; for by contrast to the reality of their being, they realize that the control of substance of a lesser dimension is not nearly so important as is the control of the factors of life within their own being and to rule themselves.
Therefore, the power of the flame of freedom, which I am releasing this day to you as I am speaking, is to make you kings and priests unto God, as Melchizedek was of old, and to bring to you your immortal freedom.[2]
When I moved among the crowned heads of Europe and I beheld the expressions of utter boredom upon their faces at times, I noted that they paid special heed to the messages which I brought to them. They felt and they sensed the vibrancy of my life, but they did not feel the vibrancy of their own which was within them at the selfsame moment. They were not quickened, but I was.
And therefore I say to you today: I am quickened, but are you?
And I therefore say to you today that I bring you the gift of your own quickening, if you will accept it.
You must recognize that individuals must elect for themselves to be the chosen of God.
We cannot do it for you.
Even God, your Father, cannot do it for you; for he has already done it for you.
He has created the master blueprint in which you are designed.
And whose responsibility, I ask you, is it for the outpicturing of that?
Who is the master workman?
Your Holy Christ Self!
But unless you submit to the Holy Christ Self and to the great God-design that is outworking through you, how in the name of heaven can it be wrought?
It can be wrought only through the submission of the human to the divine mission of the God Self.
This, then, is mastery in its fullness.
Why am I today dwelling upon this factor so strongly?
One day, when you have taken hold upon this law as I have stated it and have recognized that there was something in your own determination and acceptance of my offer which accounted for your victory, you will then realize what it is that I have released to you today and why I have released it.
But until then, beloved ones, I urge you not to pass by this quickening by some vain idea that this energy is merely released for the entertainment of one or more individuals.
I tell you, this energy is released for the freedom of all mankind, for everyone upon the planetary body.
Now if today this room were to be expanded into a great amphitheater, if it would hold ten thousand people and ten thousand ascended masters were to enter that great amphitheater, every one of these ten thousand masters of light would wish for all mankind, including each one of you, the fullness of your freedom.
And yet our wish, strong as it is, joined with the wish of God, would not be enough to bring it about until you yourself elect and determine conscientiously and consciously that you are going to accept your freedom by keeping your attention anchored upon your freedom.
You see, beloved ones, the moment that you resolve that you will do this forever, at that particular moment, you will take note, there is established in your consciousness a magnet.
And every time that your attention wanders from the great God Self of your being, this mighty magnet of your perfection and freedom will return to say: “Come back to me!
Come back to me!
Come back to me!
I AM your freedom!”
And with that call, the response of your outer self will bring about a proper diversion of your attention and energies not to the outer, but to the inner.
As you turn your attention to the inner, you will find a certain mastery is coming into your being that you knew not before.
And you will realize that the Christ-communion of the ages which has fired every ascended master’s heart has been in the center of that white stone, in the center of that new name of being that is within every man.[3]
You will recognize that the outer self, in a sense, must die; that the death of that outer self is indeed the putting-off of the body of man’s own sins, so to speak, the inequities of man’s wrong use of energy, and that in this process of the dying of the outer self (the old man with all of his corruptness and inequities),[4] man comes to a state where there is a very dim coal-spark of the sacred fire remaining within him which itself seems almost to be extinguished.
This is the obscure night of the soul, when mankind has at last succeeded in snuffing out his human interest and then has not yet developed his divine interest until he can extend into the spiritual world to perceive the glory of the spiritual world.
And therefore the coal burns with great dimness upon the altar and all seems to be shadow surrounding the identity of that one.
And in this almost abject and hopeless situation, he suffers the supreme temptation of his being—to forsake this tiny coal and return once again as Lot’s wife to behold the burning Sodom of human desires and feelings and place his attention upon the myriad facets of outer creation.[5]
O precious ones, at that moment, I admonish you, when your victory is so close, do not fan the fires of outer-world desires, but fan the fires of your own God Self so that there breaks forth upon the altar of being the soft glowing, the suffused power of being glowing within your heart, expanding and expanding until at first it is like a tiny candle flame.
It is not even visible, beloved ones!
It is so tiny, so miniature!
And yet it is real.
Then gradually this tiny atom-spark of light begins its mighty power of Christ-expansion in the folds of man’s being.
“Expand, expand, expand!” calls the flame of freedom.
And it begins to come from within the recesses—within, out; within, out; within, out—until it moves into the temple of being, gilding all with a touch of God’s golden radiance.
The dawn that is breaking then is reality—the reality of forever and not the ephemeral outer self which must die.
This is God’s reality!
And as time passes, it magnifies more and more, until there stands beside the human the Christ-man.
When this occurs, once again the power of vision is obtained—the power of hearing, the power of knowing—but now in a different wise.
No longer confined to the mere eyes of earth, man possesses the dual faculty of seeing outwardly and within.
Man possesses the faculty of hearing outwardly and within.
Man possesses the faculty of knowing outwardly and within.
The world then no longer seems to be real. The outer world takes on the quality of the unreal, for it is less than the perfection of the real.
And man, perceiving the mirage upon the desert of life, knows that the oasis which he presently has is but a foretaste of the mighty Land of Promise which is yet to come.
As Moses led the children of Israel across the desert and out of bondage to the Promised Land, so I urge you today to forsake the bondage of Egypt, the bondage of the outer self, the bondage of human creation and all that it implies, and set sail for the Promised Land upon the great ship of God’s majesty.
Columbia, the gem of the ocean! The Promised Land is before thee, O each son of heaven! It speaks of divine majesty, of the one star and the many stars upon the field of honor blue. It speaks of the use of energy as God intends. The white purity, yea!
And also the washing out and transmutation of the red dye of violence and hatred and its change into the golden radiance of the love of God flowing through the veins of man’s being.
O transformation, how wondrous thou art!
O transformation, how glorious is thy power!
The flame of freedom speaks—the flame of freedom within each human heart.
The flame of freedom saith unto all: Come apart now and be a separate and chosen people, elect unto God[6]—men who have chosen their election well, who have determined to cast their lot in with the immortals.
These are they who have set their teeth with determination, who have said:
- I will never give up
- I will never turn back
- I will never submit
- I will bear the flame of freedom unto my victory
- I will bear this flame in honor
- I will sustain the glory of life within my nation
- I will sustain the glory of life within my being
- I will win my ascension
- I will forsake all idols and
- I will forsake the idol of my outer self
- I will have the glory of my immaculate divinely conceived Self manifesting within me
- I AM freedom and
- I AM determined to be freedom
- I AM the flame of freedom and
- I AM determined to bear it to all
- I AM God’s freedom and he is indeed free
- I AM freed by his power and his power is supreme
- I AM fulfilling the purposes of God’s kingdom
O precious ones, it is to this that I urge all to attain. It is to this that ye came into manifestation. All else is vanity and vexation[7] of spirit. All else must be swept away! It is a carnival of inequity. It must be replaced by a cornucopia of life’s abundance.
Know ye not that by the flame of freedom you obtain entry to the fullness of life and that all universes part before the sword of your attention?
Know ye not that this is the gate to mastery, the severing of the human veil, the cutting asunder of that which separates you from the holy place?
Beloved ones, let not the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place where it ought not; but let the mighty Ego of God stand within the temple of your immortal freedom, within your own beating heart.[8]
I thank you; and as a friend of old to the earth, as the friend of kings and priests and men, including beggars of old, I stand now as the friend of the many. I was then the friend of the few. Today I am the friend of freedom to the earth! I bear no exceptions, but I leave that response to my hearers.
Those who hear me, those who read my words and my instruction—let them determine for themselves the authenticity of my words. Let them determine for themselves whether or not they shall elect to have their own freedom.
I have offered—and I shall continue to do so—the consecrated flame of freedom to the earth. No one can be denied this flame save those who deny themselves.
Thank you and good afternoon.
[1] 1 Cor. 9:24.
[2] Pss. 110:4.
[3] Rev. 2:17.
[4] Eph. 4:22.
[5] Gen. 19:24-26.
[6] 2 Cor. 6:17.
[7] Eccles. 1:14.
[8] Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.
From Pearls of Wisdom, Vol. 19 Nos. 28 – 29, July, 1976