DAY 5 · Part V: Spiritual Principles & Channeling
CHAPTER 24
Spiritual
Principles II
Gary The notion of harvest is a big repeated concept in the Confederation’s message, whether via Ra or the consciously channeled sources like Q’uo and Latwii. How does harvest play into your thinking now that we are beyond the date in time so many people targeted? How has your thinking evolved on this particular concept?
Jim Harvest has apparently been going on for a while so it’s not something that happens all at once. The common fundamental Christian idea is that there will be a rapture and some people will be taken and others will be left, and it’ll all be over in a hurry. I think Ra suggested that it could take anywhere from 100 to 700 years. Considering that we started shortly after World War II we’re about 60 years into that then, so 640 years to go.
Carla The top could have been 700 or 800. Anyway, there’s a lot of time. I don’t believe our readings ever suggested an all-at-once thing, except in terms of metaphysical things shifting. I think metaphysically there was a big shift at the 2012 deadline, but everybody was waiting for ships to take them away or something to happen—I didn’t expect it to happen, I never expected it to happen. I knew that this was not a physical concept. I think the thing that has changed, that has really shifted, is that I see a lot more difficulty that people are running into now, and that’s because there’s more truth, there’s more light; that shift has happened, and people are receiving fourth-density light a lot.
In fourth-density light you have only to ask a little bit and you’ll get such an answer! You don’t want it to be you, you don’t want to work with the shadow self—no, no, that’s not me—but it is. But then you have to do the work. If you can do the work, sit down and find that part of yourself that was so much in pain that you buried that shadow side. Dig it up and take a look, and see what all needs to be done to heal it. And then go about integrating it into your light side. And that has to be done whenever you see the work to do. We’re never quite finished with that.
Gary Anything else you wanted to add?
Carla I think that a natural harvest also begins when you stop being able to use this physical body. You’ve shifted. You shifted when you came into this incarnation. Your spirit wrapped itself around this spine and made the chakras. The energy body wrapped itself around the physical body and that was the beginning of this incarnation, as far as you as a creature, as a mind/body/spirit complex, is concerned.
So you accept this gift of a body, and you accept the incarnation that follows and then, when it’s over, whenever that is—and the Creator generally has more to say about that than we ever want—you let go. You let go of the physical. You leave that physical body behind again, and you shift into your metaphysical or electrical or spirit body, and off you go, new adventures, new places.
Ra talks about us walking the steps of light. At this time of harvest there’s always the chance, and I think it’s a reasonably good chance, that everybody that has become aware of these concepts is probably ready to move on. We walk the steps of light, and at some point the steps continue into fourth density, more light. You don’t know. You’re just walking along enjoying the fuller light, and then at some point it gets to be too much light. You’re getting burned, so you stop. You look down and think, okay higher body, okay higher self, did I make it? Am I in fourth density? Generally speaking I imagine everybody will be ready to graduate a grade; go from third grade to fourth grade in this school of souls.
Gary I think we would all agree that there are those of the negative polarity on this planet, that they often wield the reins of worldly power, and that, as is characteristic of the negative path, they engage in deceit and manipulation, often cloaking their intentions behind what seems to be service-to-others oriented ideals.
One area of inquiry that seeks to uncover and understand the various schemes and plots of those of the negative polarity is called “conspiracy theory.” What has been your relationship to the many conspiracy theories to which you’ve been privy over the years.
Jim [chuckles] And she looks at me. [referring to Carla] Yeah, I was fairly heavily involved with various conspiracy theories, having gotten a newsletter from a group in Washington and Oregon. I got very interested in what was going on behind the scenes, and after a while I thought to myself, you know, this is just normal stuff—this is normal human stuff, and it really doesn’t matter.
If you look at any group, whether it’s a family, a church, an office, a team, there are little pairings within the group of people trying to do something behind the scenes; two kids trying to figure out how to extend their vacation so mom and dad will give their blessing, or how to get out of work.
People are always trying to figure out how to get around or to get something done behind somebody else’s back or in spite of somebody else. It’s just human nature. So it’s going to happen everywhere, and of course it’s going to happen at the highest levels of government and power. But I finally came to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter because they can’t affect my evolution if I am concentrating on what I’m doing and trying to shine my light, and doing what I came here to do. It’s just part of the game, and if you get lost in that part of the game it’s kind of unfortunate because then you forget what you’re doing and what you’re really here for. So that’s my take.
Carla I think some of them are very interesting. I’ve always been especially fond of the conspiracy theory having to do with Illuminati and the Emerald Tablets. Some of these are wonderful stories. It’s alright to look at them, but I’ve never taken them seriously. I know that they are going on. I don’t doubt that there are people attempting to collect power and are doing so at very high levels and are infiltrating governments and policy. I know any time I want to be entertained I can go and listen to somebody who has been studying some aspect of this. And it’s a fascinating couple of hours that you spend in that world, but the truth of it is you have ultimate power over your open heart. That’s what our scope of power is. We’re not seeking to do anything beyond cleaning up our act and being of service to the Infinite Creator as we came here to do. We can do that without worrying about the conspiracies. We don’t have to change the fact that there are a lot of things in this world that are really corrupt. We don’t have to fix that, thank God.
Jim The positive polarity does its work in the light, and the negative polarity does its work in the darkness. That’s just the way things are.
Carla There are people who decide they want to fix something and they do wonderful work doing that. I don’t want to make them look silly for trying to do something grand, you know, they wear white hats and they do wonderful things. I’m just saying you can wear a white hat and be one of the good guys simply by opening your heart and keeping it open on a continuing basis. It’s hard enough, thank you. So to answer your questions briefly, I’ve never been involved in conspiracy theories.
Gary I note that even in the Law of One community, it has a compulsion. It can really catch the attention.
Jim Well, it’s fascinating stuff. Great stories.
Gary Yeah, and it provides endless fodder. You can dig into that realm and keep going, and going, and going. There’s always some new event and the misinformation and the disinformation is so myriad that who knows where it ends or what’s true in that world.
How, in general, do you seek the Creator and seek to serve others in a positive sense on a planet filled with so much confusion and so many horrors, such as ours is; a planet populated with those of a polarity opposite your own?
Jim We do what we’ve done. Get together with like-minded souls, those here, and do what we can.
Gary I think a smarter way of phrasing that question would be: A lot of people have beautiful ideals in their heart that inspire them to do positive work, and then they turn on the news or look at the world around them and they’re discouraged. They can’t reconcile the two. How can I hold on to these ideals and pursue them in an environment like this? So, I should have asked the question: How do you reconcile, how do you look around you and see that and still continue?
Carla I think if you never enter the kingdom of silence, you’d be in deep trouble because you can’t get away from looking at the way the world wags. It wags the way it does everywhere. But you shut off the mind, you go into the place where there are no words, no time, no space, and you find a whole other kingdom to be explored that has a much different environment. Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Well, what world was it then? He didn’t mean he came from Mars and he was going to go back there; it’s the kingdom of spirit, and you need to enter into that spirit however it is you choose to do it. It’s really the kingdom of silence. Somebody said, “Well, how do you enter the kingdom of silence?” and I told her, well, stop talking. [laughs] It was a particularly apt comment for her. But that’s the start.
Jim The Don Quixote ideal, I think. That’s why that’s our logo. You tilt at windmills, and you go out and uphold the righteous and do your part.
Carla In college, there was this point where I realized that if you wanted to use words you could make anything wrong or right. You could associate anything together with anything. So words were basically useless. And that ended my love affair with words and opened up a love affair with silence. I’m still an enormous lover of silence. It’s the answer to so much in terms of how do you do this? How do you keep your heart? How do you keep your faith? How do you maintain what you’re doing? Remember it, a couple of moments a day. Just remembering it is enough to strengthen you. Just walk a little ways in the silence—just a few seconds and you remember who you really are, and that’s who you bring back and then you sing.
Gary In Book V, Jim writes:
In order to be of the most appropriate service we must simply desire to serve without any conditions put on that desire.
And later Jim says,
When that dedication [to serving others] becomes focused on a strong desire that a specific outcome be the result of any effort to serve others, then one is distorting the service with preconceived ideas. Not my will, but Thy will is the attitude offering the most efficient service.
Can you elaborate on what this means and how does one serve in this way?
Jim [chuckles] That was my elaboration. [everyone laughs] Should’ve seen what I started with!
Carla That wasn’t the beginning of it; that was IT!
Jim That’s my philosophy: You hope for certain outcomes when you do something, or else you probably wouldn’t do it. You have to have a goal and a reason for doing what you do. But in the spiritual realm, if you have too specific an outcome set up in your mind, it would be really easy to get discouraged because things don’t always turn out that way. So you have to intend what you want to do, and you have to make the best effort you can. And then at some point you finally say: “Well, I’m not the greatest power in the world, there are greater powers, and I need to give my will over to the Creator or to my higher self or the angelic forces around me, or the forces of right and light, and just say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Let me do what I can and take my efforts and add them to a whole lot of other efforts that are along the same lines, and let’s see what we can do. I’m planting a seed; I know that the path of service to others is the path of that which is, so I’m going to keep traveling it.”
And eventually we’ll realize that we are not only doing what we want to do, but we are the Creator. And everything is available to us.
But it’s a way of gaining experience and glorifying the Creator to wend our way through the various confusions, doubts, mysteries, darkness and so forth that all people go through. It’s just the way things are—keep the faith, keep your intentions, do your part and stay hopeful.
That’s elaboration for me, by golly.
Gary I know I kind of began with the answer to that question but I’m very grateful that you took the opportunity to elaborate on that.
Carla, two key things that I’ve learned from you through your example include: yielding in group work, and your insistence upon always placing relationships first. Can you talk about these two principles?
Carla Yielding and relationships?
Gary Yeah, how you keep relationships first and, when working in a group, how you have the capacity to yield.
Carla All right. Well, in the first place, the reason that I put relationships first is that that’s where my catalyst, where my service, where my learning is going to be. There’s nothing else that is the kind of wonderful teacher that other people are. So whoever is in my life I try to honor as a soul, and whatever they ask of me I really look to see if I can do it. And if I possibly can, I will.
The ones that are very close to me that we work with every day and I know that we’ll have a continuing relationship, like a maid or a co-worker—if something’s wrong, I want to sit down and I want to talk it out, because I like everything to be sweet between us. And the reason is simply because if you can keep your hearts open to each other, if you’re always glad to see each other, then you’re going to get the best work done. And I would not be comfortable in any environment that didn’t include that capacity to say, “Let’s talk.”
Jim and I have had almost 30 years of marriage now and more than that of being together, and that has always been our watchword: to sit down and talk if there was anything between us, because we didn’t want to go to bed angry and have that be a blockage that would continue until tomorrow. We wanted to get it done now. And we’ve always been able to do that. We’ve always been able to go to sleep in good company with each other—happy with each other, satisfied with each other, and feeling loving.
So I know it’s possible to do. When two people get together, and they want to solve something, they will. They’re going to be able to; there’s nothing stopping them. And if you don’t do it, then it becomes huge, and then you have a big drama. I don’t like drama so I figure—do it for five minutes, get it done [laughs], and have a good time. Always enhance your capacity to have fun. If you’re laughing this is good.
So that’s what I think about relationships. Putting them first is your best shot for having catalyst come to you that you need. They’re the mirrors; you need to honor your mirrors. Loving each other and being loved is the joy of my life, and it’s just respect for each other; it’s just good to honor the people around you.
And as far as yielding when it comes to doing whatever is necessary . . . If I want to stay exactly as I am and have people that admire me exactly as I am, oh, yeah, I can go a long way without allowing anyone to disagree with me. Or I can say, “This is the way I want you all to spend your days,” and I can say, “My way or the highway.” But it doesn’t honor everyone else’s desire to get up when he wants to get up and do what he wants to do and have spiritual work be the way he wants it to be. So my attitude is not let’s do things my way, I don’t want to hear anything about it, but what precisely is it that you want to do that’s different from me? Let’s see if I can support you. I see no need for everybody to be like me.
Does that answer the yielding question?
Gary Yes. I’ve actively learned from both aspects. The relationships first principle—you framed it previously in years past that it’s not necessarily about the job, the objective, or the goal, but it’s the relationship first and foremost. So set aside the goal for a moment and, if there’s disharmony, focus on the relationship. Always the sweetness of the relationship comes first.
Carla Yeah, I know what you’re thinking of, and that was a time when I had to shut down one of the incarnations of Bring4th. I had to shut down two of them. It was because ugliness had entered in and there was no way to make it sweet again. I tried and tried with this one guy who was willing to start a new incarnation of Bring4th but we couldn’t ever be sweet together because he was aggravated so much with me over my lack of knowledge of the technical aspects that he was just always mad; he was always angry. So I was trying to make him not angry, and he was trying to make me a person that knew what he was talking about, and he was doomed. [laughs] I did make it sweet between us, but it did involve not working together because I would never be the kind of co-worker that he wanted. I could never be a full partner who understood coding and all those things that had to do with technical aspects. I didn’t even know the proper use of the word forum. I was hopeless.
And so now, when we see each other, it’s long lost, and we love each other dearly. But I would not work with him real closely because I know I could never be the person that he would want to work with. He really needs to have people that can be full partners working with the technical stuff. So when Engratt came into my life, he did not need for me to understand the technical aspects. He and I agreed on the metaphysical aspects, and then he just went for it. And I’ve never seen anything that was a problem in what you two have put together.
You have always had the relationships first and you have always made sure that things stayed sweet on the forums, and that was what I was requiring.
Gary Jim, when working with you one day cutting grass through Jim’s Lawn Service, you expressed that above all there is one thing you’ve learned from life. Do you remember what that was?
Jim Nope. [laughter]
Gary I thought we might run into that problem.
Jim One thing? I’ve only learned one thing? Must have been a bad day. [laughs]
Carla Oh, come on.
Gary It struck me as especially profound because it was very simple—
Jim How profound was it if you don’t remember?
Gary Oh, I remember. I was just prefacing it. I was hoping to tease it out of you—
Jim Well, keep teasing.
Gary —for the benefit of anybody that may read this book. It struck me as especially profound because it was something simple coming from a person who has a world of philosophy in his mind, and years of study.
Jim Oh, and my philosophy of life? Always be generous?
Gary Yes! That’s it.
[Jim laughing]
Carla Oh, that’s wonderful because I have never known another person who does that. No matter how tired Jim was, he would always do a little something extra for the person at the end of all the things he was paid to do, and he would never charge for it. This private generosity of his has resulted in all of his customers—he’s been gone for a couple of years now and every time they see him they still say, “Jim, aren’t you coming back? Please come back.” They adored him and maybe they didn’t know why other than that he did a wonderful job with the lawns, but he was always doing something extra.
Gary “Always be generous.” I found that an especially beautiful ideal and just wanted to get it on the recording.
Carla Yeah, it is beautiful.
Jim [chuckles] Thanks for helping me remember that.
Gary A Bring4th member asks: “Latwii and Ra mentioned male/female seeking or service to be of significance, namely, an efficient way to seek or to serve. What has been your experience to seek together as a male/female pair only versus seeking together as a three-person group when with
Don?”
Jim Hmm. That’s hard to really say because the time we’ve had together has been mostly without Don. It’s been 30 years since he died so we’ve had a lot of time together, and being able to seek together is invaluable. To be alone on the journey is very hard. I was alone for a while, and like I said, it’s a lot harder to learn alone. When you’re with somebody else, it just magnifies the ability to learn and serve.
Carla and I have been able to, like she said, talk our way through any misunderstanding or difficulty that’s ever come our way. Nothing has ever remained past the day. So when Don was alive, you know the Ra contact was ongoing then too, so it was a golden time.
Carla Yeah, it was.
Jim We were on top of the mountain, and it was probably overly-colored with rosy hues, even though there were difficulties. So that was a very special time.
Don, though . . . [laughs in reminiscence] With his particular way of using, or not using catalyst, it was a little different. It was easier to learn with Carla because he had the idea that the world was a crazy place, and in order to keep your balance and sanity, you needed not to let catalyst bother you, either for the ups or the downs—remain even keeled. He did a pretty good job of that.
So with Don it was a little more difficult to learn from communications and so forth because everything was pretty much internalized. But with Carla, it’s pretty much externalized.
Carla But of course with Don, that third person bringing the capacity to do the larger work. That was very invaluable.
Jim Yeah, the third person really helps the outer work in helping form a group to help other folks.
Carla He was a wonderful leader. Jim and I are both leaders in terms of our genes; we have no problem leading a group. So it’s not that we were leaning on him. We were two people who were delighted to give over our will—you know, what do we do next, George? and questions of that sort to a boss that was going to tell us a really good thing to do next. We trusted his capacity to lead.
Jim He was definitely the leader but we never felt—I never felt—that he was the boss. He didn’t give orders. You just wanted to be around Don. You wanted to do what he wanted to do because he was fun.
Carla I pattern my boss-ness on his, which was that I never say anything unless there is something wrong. I haven’t talked to you, Gary, much over the last ten years as to what you’re doing because you’re always, as far as I’m concerned, doing everything right. But I don’t go around giving you huge compliments all the time; I just enjoy the things that are going on. I might thank you for something, but I don’t make you crazy with it.
Gary Yeah, you’re not a micro-manager. As I seek to operate in harmony with your interests, and as long as that is met and your spirit honored, then it’s full steam ahead.
Carla Yeah, you’ve got full freedom to do whatever is in your mind that would never be in mine because I wouldn’t know if it was possible.
Gary In Book V Jim writes:
We also discovered that every person which incarnates brings with him or her certain avenues, preferences, or ways of nurturing its inner beingness. This inner beingness is that which is the true enabler and ennobler of our daily lives.
When we would ask Ra how best to aid the instrument we would often get more specific suggestions according to the situation, but we would always be reminded of those qualities which were Carla’s ways of nurturing her inner beingness.
So what did you each discover which “nurtures your inner beingness”?
Jim Well, I like solitude and I like the primal nature environment. I like wandering out in the woods and just feeling the Creator in the trees and flowers and birds and squirrels. The way things are put together—it’s a wonderful creation. I mean, it’s amazing. So I go out in my yard here and do the best I can to approximate that wilderness and seeing the Creator everywhere. That’s what I do.
Gary It’s work combined with solitude.
Jim Yeah, there always has to be some work in there. I love what the Creator has done, but [speaking to the Creator] you know . . . we could do a little better over here. [laughs] Just my opinion. Think about it!
Carla And look what he’s been able to accomplish. That’s Jim’s way. And obviously my way is more taken up in music and ritual and all the joys of that kind of sacred environment. I have always wanted to go to church, and be part of the service, sing that sacred repertoire and be part of the music. That feeds me tremendously.1
Gary Any suggestions for the seeker looking to discover that which nurtures their own “inner beingness”?
Jim Well, after a few years I think each person kind of has an idea about what he or she likes to do and what really makes a difference with the inner environment, what that little voice inside sings when you do or think or create something or other. Just look. Everybody’s got something.
Carla That’s true. I love anything I can do in the way of teaching. When I get to talk about The Law of One to audiences and sing a little bit and just make people feel a shift in the way they are, just for a few minutes. I love doing that. That makes me glow. I think I’m full up on glow actually for the incarnation. But I do still enjoy sharing with people.
Gary The word enlightenment is of course just a word, just a concept, and like all words, isn’t the equivalent of that to which it points. That said, what do you think enlightenment means? To what does the word point?
Jim Well, in the way of Ra’s description, the contact with intelligent infinity would be the fully experienced presence of the One Infinite Creator. I think we’re all working toward something like that. That would be the epitome of enlightenment. I think most cultures, most religions, have got some word that points you that way, whether it’s nirvana, samadhi, kensho or whatever. Everyone has the opportunity to experience that, whatever culture or religion, or whether you see yourself as an expatriate from cultures and religions, make your own path and still get there.
Carla I think enlightenment suggests more light, so when you run across something that makes you go oh, now I get it, that’s enlightenment. Whatever degree, wherever we are, I think you can be enlightened about so many things in so many ways, but that commonality of enlightenment is the feeling of almost being lifted up and shown a whole new world. Your eyes get big and you go wow, this is great, and you’re enlightened at that point. I don’t think enlightenment means that you know more because there’s so much to know. We need to stay humble with that, but we can become more and more enlightened as we let more and more light into our hearts. That really comes back down to allowing ourselves to take part in that kingdom of silence that is full of light and love, where this environment is so often not.
Gary As Jim mentioned, Ra describes enlightenment both as an opening to intelligent infinity and also as an opening to the “gate to the present.”2
Why do you think Ra links enlightenment to the present moment?
Jim Well, if you remember Be Here Now, the famous book that was written years ago by Ram Das, the moment of now is an infinite moment and continues on. If you can be fully present and aware of what’s going on in your life, in your mind, in your heart, then I think that is an enlightening experience. We tend to think towards the future or towards the past a whole lot. Look what I did back there. Let’s see what I want to do. And we are kind of split. But if you can be right here right now, then it is a whole other world. Those few times that any of us have been able to do that it impresses that point upon us so that we would like to expand the now once again.
Gary In your own journeys have you experienced the energies of self-doubt, and if so how have you related to that?
Jim Oh, no, I’ve never had any amount of doubt in my life. [laughs] Are you kidding? Yeah, sure, self-doubt? Well, I guess for me self-doubt has been a reminder that has honed my energies, my activities, my discipline, because overall I think I’ve always had confidence, and that has been something that has served me well. Confidence, because things really seem to be working out. I mean, every step of my life has been very well available. I’ve never had to wonder about it.
Self-doubt has come in more with how do I blend my energies with someone else or with some other group, or in how do I help someone else. For myself though I haven’t had that much self-doubt. It’s come more in my relationships with others, and it’s helped make me sharper to refine what I want to do; refine my thoughts, refine my desires and to get down to it. It reminds me that there’s still a distance to go. We’re not there yet—or are we and have I just forgotten?
Carla I have had remarkably little self-doubt in my life. I just always feel very grounded in me. I know myself pretty well and haven’t had moments, haven’t had times where I thought I needed a whole other direction. Now, of course, there are times when you just think you’re an idiot—realize you’re an idiot— see the fullness of your idiot-ness and you just think, I’ll never ever be able to get rid of it. I’ll always be this much of an idiot. I think when I get fully into that it is discouraging, but there’s nothing much you can do with that so I just fall back on . . . whether it’s chutzpah or whether it’s just self-confidence, I feel that I’m basically right. This is basically what I want to do with my life and I love doing it. So let’s just do it. I think we all have these moments—you just get tired, you get very tired and you think one more effort—I don’t know man, but then you find the space and the time and it’s okay again.
Gary And on a related question, how about confusion. What role has confusion played in your life?
Jim Sporadic, I guess. Nothing significant.
Carla No?
Jim Have I had to worry about confusion—not confusion on a spiritual level, or on a . . .
Gary Well, not confusion like how do I get to Arby’s but a deeper level of confusion—confused by life, confused by catalyst, what it means, how do you process it?
Jim I’ve had this little voice inside that’s been giving me pretty good counsel over the years, and if I’m uncertain about what to do, I just ask. Sometimes it will give me the answer I don’t want to hear, but I know it’s right. So I don’t stay confused long, but I might procrastinate doing something I don’t want to do. [laughs] But I eventually get around to doing it, and it’s the right thing.
Carla I loved his answer. I think we’re a lot alike that way. I don’t think confusion has had anything much to do with my life. I could get confused about that answer. [laughs]
Gary I guess both these questions shine a light into both of your characters, and that’s the strength that can be perceived in both of you which derives from your foundation in self-knowledge; you know yourselves pretty well.
Regarding confusion, that’s something I’ve always thought, especially in you Jim, was remarkable in that you just seem to know what you want to do, and you do it. And then you don’t seem, at least to my eyes, to waste any more consciousness second guessing. Once you do it, it’s done and you’re ready to move on. That has not been my experience. That’s why I find it remarkable in seeing it in you.
Carla Yeah, I think you’re right about it. That is his modus operandi.
Gary How about will and faith: What role have these faculties played on your path?
Jim Pivotal.
Carla For mine, it’s everything.
Jim Crucial.
Carla Yeah, my faith is number one. All I have to do is remember looking into Jesus’ eyes—that pivotal moment when I was two, and the rest of my life just falls into place.
And will—I’ve been amazed at how strong my will is. I’m very, very focused on using it well. I think the right use of will is a very important thing. I think I did come here to be wiser, to try to learn to be a little bit wiser and not quite so loving—a little more wise, a little discipline in there.
So faith and then secondarily will are two huge aspects of me.
Jim For everything that we’ve wanted to do, and everything I’ve wanted to do, whether it was Jim’s Lawn Service or working through L/L Research or dealing with difficult people, will and faith have been just the . . . I think that’s the rod and the staff that’s talked about in the 23rd Psalm: “Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for Thy rod and they staff are with me.” I believe that will and faith are the rod and the staff. That’s just my interpretation, but they have been just the foundation stones upon which I’ve built everything that I’ve done or tried to do.
Carla There’s a wonderful story of Jim in college where—I think it was Jamie who told me this—that you got in between two big people and you were explaining to them why they did not want to beat up on each other, something like that. And Jamie said he’d never heard such eloquence in his life, and Jim said he didn’t even remember it, said he must have been in an altered state. He has a wonderfully peaceful way about him, and he’s at his very best when he will let himself get in between people that want to beat on each other and explain to them why they don’t want that.
Jim That just happened once.
Carla It’s very indicative. [chuckles]
Gary My second to final question for this section was originally stated as, “How has this information [the Confederation Philosophy] aided each of you along your journey of seeking?” But I think I’ll tweak it so that I tie it into will and faith and ask: How has this philosophy fed your will and faith, or has it?
Jim Well, the will and faith, I guess, and the way I’d previously exercised them was like a skeleton. This information has filled out the flesh on the skeleton and given it a real life in my life so that there’s more to look at, more to think about, more to be affected by, more from which to move. There’s such a richness that it’s added. Everything was black and white before and now it’s in color.
Carla I guess what it’s done for me is that it’s given me a way to talk to people who are not Christian, and I value that greatly because I have always been a person that would inspire and would love to give inspiration, but before this, if I wanted to give inspiration to people and not use the vocabulary of Jesus, not be a Christian, I was kind of stuck. With Ra’s cosmology in mind I can talk about the Infinite Creator and all these various concepts in a way that’s neutral and does not bother people in the same way that talking about Jesus and following Jesus bothers people. So I greatly value that. I guess I value the Ra contact in terms of how it’s enabled my service, more for that than anything. It’s given me a vocabulary.
Gary We’ll call it a wrap there. Thank you both so much.
Jim Thank you.
Carla Yes, indeed.
Notes
[1] Some of those things which nurture Carla’s inner beingness as described by Ra: ↩
RA We have spoken before of those things which aid this instrument in the vital energy: the sensitivity to beauty, to the singing of sacred music, to the meditation and worship, to the sharing of self with self in freely given love either in social or sexual intercourse. These things work quite directly upon the vitality. This instrument has a distortion towards appreciation of variety of experiences. This, in a less direct way, aids vitality. 44.13
See 99.5 (or endnote #3 in Ch 27) for more about that which feed’s Jim’s soul, you might say.
[2] Can Ra offer a shortcut to opening that gate? ↩
RA We cannot offer shortcuts to enlightenment. Enlightenment is of the moment, is an opening to intelligent infinity. It can only be accomplished by the self, for the self. Another self cannot teach/learn enlightenment, but only teach/learn information, inspiration, or a sharing of love, of mystery, of the unknown that makes the other-self reach out and begin the seeking process that ends in a moment, but who can know when an entity will open the gate to the present? 17.2