Month: August 2024

12 Keys of Discipleship

Key Eleven:  Seeking the Good of the Whole

The disciple must work with the group in mind as his highest priority rather than the individual self.

Many there are who believe that it is a top priority to work for the good of the individual and the good of the group will follow. The reason for this belief is that the most prosperous nations on the earth allow the greatest individual freedom and the least prosperous and desirable, like North Korea and Cuba, stress the good of the group over the individual.

Do I therefore support the communist idea that the will of the individual must submit itself to the will of the State?

No. Of course not. Between the free enterprise system, which stresses the good of the individual and the communist which stresses the power of the state the capitalistic system is by far the most desirable.

If this is so then what is meant by the statement that “The disciple must work with the group in mind as his highest priority?” How is that different from communism?

The difference is freedom. Even though it is important that the disciple learn to focus on group work it is also true that it is a great evil to force people to do good. It is especially evil to force people toward an ideal that their consciousness is not prepared to accept. Since few have evolved to the state where group work takes priority over the individual, only chaos can result by forcing people to do that which they do not desire.

Another point is that the collective systems today are usually ruled by a tyrant and most do not consider service to a tyrant as service to the group. In addition the person is not allowed to do any free thinking for either the group or the individual.

The importance of true group work is illustrated by the body. It is composed of billions of individual cells. If each cell worked only for itself the body would die along with the cells. They therefore must work with the aim of keeping the whole body healthy so they can themselves survive and thrive. Is there a dictator cell that bosses others around and tells them how to work as a group?

No. Instead they are aligned with a greater will so their instinctive intelligence can pick up what needs done.

Even so, the disciples of the world must lead the way in working for the ultimate health of the human race. If the whole is healthy then the individuals will thrive as well as enjoy the maximum of individual rights.

The disciple is thus willing to sacrifice the individual satisfaction to accomplish the greater good, but with the realization that, in the end, maximum individual satisfaction is predicated on group health.

It is interesting that to accomplish this end that the fertile soil for group growth is not a socialist environment, but one of free enterprise where the pilgrim can descend into maximum selfishness. He must be allowed to make those millions and buy six cars, three homes and a yacht if he wants?

Why?

Because each of us must descend into the black hole of maximum selfishness. When most individuals reach that point they discover they are still not happy and satisfied. Then they ask that all important question:

Is that all there is?

Then they climb out of the pit of selfishness and they travel on a quest for meaning. They finally find that meaning when their consciousness expands to serving the good of something greater than themselves.

We can thus see why it is important to allow the maximum freedom of the individual for under an authoritarian government people cannot fully explore the necessary path of selfishness.

I’ll end this section with some quotes from DK on groupwork.

“You must not imagine that the particular line of work on which you may be engaged is the factor of main interest. It is not primarily the unfoldment of the intuition, or of the power to heal, or of telepathic efficiency which is of importance. That which counts with the Hierarchy as the Ashrams function is the establishing subjectively of such a potent group interplay and group relation that an emerging world unity can be seen in embryo. A joint power to be telepathic or a group capacity to intuit truth is of value and somewhat novel. It is the functioning of groups who have the ability to work as a unity, whose ideals are one, whose personalities are merged into one forward swing, whose rhythm is one and whose unity is so firmly established that naught can produce in the group the purely human characteristics of separation, of personal isolation and selfish seeking, that is new. Unselfish people are not rare. Unselfish groups are very rare. Pure detached devotion in a human being is not rare but to find it in a group is rare indeed. The submergence of personal interests in the good of the family or in that of another person is often to be found, for the beauty of the human heart has manifested itself down the ages. To find such an attitude in a group of people and to see such a point of view maintained with an unbroken rhythm and demonstrating spontaneously and naturally—this will be the glory of the New Age… There will (through this and analogous groups) be set in motion on earth a network of spiritual energies which will facilitate the regeneration of the world. The influence of these groups—when permanently established and potently working—will have a wider objective than just the elevation of humanity.”     Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 22-23

“This will become possible when the individual members in the groups and the individual groups of disciples lose sight of their own identities in an effort to make this hierarchical work possible. In this type of group work, the feelings, reactions, wishes and successes of the individual most emphatically do not count. Only that is regarded as of importance which will further group effort and enrich the group consciousness.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 43

“This is of such a nature that there emerges eventually a group steadiness and a group freedom from “oscillation” which will permit of uninterrupted group work and interplay. It will come if each of the group members will simply mind his own business and permit his group brothers to mind theirs; it will come if you keep your personality affairs, your private concerns and troubles out of the group life; it will come if you refrain from discussion of each other and of each other’s affairs and attitudes. This is of supreme importance at this stage of the group work; it will mean—if you can achieve success in this—that you will be able to keep your minds clear of all lesser things which concern the personality life. This means that your minds will be free, therefore, for group work.” Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 60

“No group can be used in world service that is not working in perfect accord and this harmony must be attained as a group. It must be brought about, not through the process whereby people withdraw within themselves and thus inhibit that which upsets group equilibrium, but by the process of loving self-forgetfulness.”      Discipleship in the New Age, Vol 1, Page 194-5

July 3, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship

Key 10 — Use The Power of Judgment

We’ve said a lot about judgment, but no matter how much the principle is taught and the people are encouraged to use it few do.

What are the four reasons seekers do not use this Key?

The three reasons are:

[1] Laziness

Good judgment takes effort and the inclination for average people is to take the line of least resistance. When taking this line of least resistance, a person who is faced with two choices will take the one requiring the least effort. If therefore such a one is faced with a direction that does not require the effort of judgment, then he will take that. Such a direction is usually the result of another person’s judgment and not his own. This is the path of the Beast.

[2] Apathy.

People are just indifferent to taking responsibility. This might be called an aspect of laziness but with a twist. A lazy person may see the need for judgment but just not get around to it. An apathetic person will not even think about the need but only what matters to himself.

[3] Fear.

This is the most powerful reason behind the avoidance of judgment. The person may be enterprising and care for obtaining good results, but if he is afraid that his judgment may do more harm than good, and he will have to be responsible for it, then good intentions are meaningless. Such a person will be stopped in his tracks and unable to make a judgment.

The disciple must care, and must be industrious enough to initiate and must overcome any fear of the failure of bad judgment. When he does this then he has the possibility of being of service to the cause of light and truth.

[4] The belief that judgment is wrong or even evil.

Judgment has gotten a bad rap because of this scripture:

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matt 7:1-5

Here Jesus is NOT telling us that we cannot judge, but is instead warning us of the law of karma if we judge harshly or incorrectly, for he says: “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Therefore, if you judge someone with minor faults to have major faults, this harsh judgment will come back to haunt you.

In this scripture He gives the key for righteous judgment: “first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” In other words, concentrate on eliminating your own faults first, and then you will be able to make a correct judgment as to how to help your brother (or sister).

Here is another scripture illustrating even more clearly that Jesus was talking about the law of karma:

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:36-38

Here He is simply saying that if we judge rashly, condemning our brother and not forgiving him, we will reap what we have sown and find condemnation coming back to us. Jesus gives us a guide in using the power of judgment correctly:

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30

As we seek to become one with God and follow His will, then the beam clogging our vision will be removed and our judgment will also be just. Here is an interesting scripture where Jesus actually tells us to judge:

“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John 7:24

Judge with clarity wisdom and love, and when you do this and later judged, as you have judged, all will be well with you, but if you do not judge righteously, then the law of karma will bring painful judgments to your door.

Finally, Jesus tells his twelve apostles that they shall be judges:

“And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt 19:28

When you think of it, it is silly to say we should not judge. As soon as you wake in the morning you make a judgment as to whether to get up or sleep a while longer. When you get in the shower you make a judgment as to when you are clean enough to get out. When you eat breakfast, you make a judgment as to what you will have and how much.

When you drive to work and are a little late you make a judgment as to whether you are going to speed or not. Finally, you get to work and meet the new guy who was just hired. He wants to be your best friend and now you make a judgment on whether or not you want this type of personality in your life. Then your boss wants you to dig up some dirt on the boss above him. You judge your boss to be wrong and refuse.

We could go on and on here, but hopefully we get the point. Judgments are not wrong. Only wrong judgments are wrong. Every quality and ability has a positive and negative side to it. When the Bible and A Course in Miracles talks about judgment in a negative light, they are talking about negative, limiting judgments.

Example: The child received some bad grades in school and tells the parent he is going to do better next time. The parent responds: “You’ve failed miserably in the past, so you’re going to fail again.” This is a cruel and limiting judgment.

A positive judgment would be something like this: “I have seen you make progress in the past when you make an effort and I do believe you have it in you to dramatically improve your grades.” Here the parent made a judgment on the positive possibilities of the child, and in this case, judgment is a good thing.

Like all other qualities judgment manifests in a duality. Limiting judgments are negative and should be avoided. Positive and constructive judgments can be very good and uplifting. The disciple needs to avoid judgments that limit, condemn, belittle and emphasize the flaws of others.

Good judgment is spoken of as a divine quality throughout the scriptures. Many times we are told that Christ and God are righteous judges and this power will be given to those who overcome. It is written:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.” Rev 20:4

“To play it safe is not to play.”  — Robert Altman (1925 – 2007)

June 15, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship

Key Nine: Ask Questions, Part 4

The Great Mystery

After we arrived back in Boise, Idaho, we concluded that traveling without purse or script was a fairly unreliable way to go in today’s world despite what the early apostles did. We could understand why the LDS church had abandoned the practice and now insists that the missionaries receive financial support from home. I think it would be a good idea though for missionaries to be able to receive assistance from those who want to help in the field of work, but this is not allowed.

For the next few months, we kept busy building our base in Boise and answering requests through the mail for literature. One thing that kind of annoyed Curtis and I was that many Mormons we came across (as well as family members) kept referring to Onias as our prophet. They seemed to figure that since we did not accept the LDS prophet that we had a need to have a similar authoritative figure in our lives as a substitute.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. We had both seen the mistake of relying too much on the beast of authority and we were determined to never again accept the word of any person blindly without first checking with the spirit within. This included Onias. We felt that he was moved upon by the Spirit to chastise the authorities in the church and felt impressed to send out his two parables, but looked upon him as an associate more than a prophet.

When Curtis and I started the organization, “The Restorers,” we did so with us as the leaders. It was something we would have done with or without Onias. His name was not mentioned on the legal papers.

As it was, Onias was a member of our organization, not the other way around. I clarify this because to this day the false idea is sometimes circulated that we joined with some organization that Onias had rather than Onias joining with us.

We made it clear to him that we were not going to blindly accept him but would seek confirmation through the spirit on any revelation that he received. He agreed that this was fine with him.

As an interesting development Curtis’ brother Bill joined our group and Onias sent his daughter, Opal, down from Canada to help us. Opal was a big help as she was a great typist and bookkeeper. I’ve never seen anyone so happy as Opal was when she was just typing away.

Bill and Opal soon started dating, fell in love and got married. Everyone thought they were a great addition to the group and a good team. Bill had a good presence, but was not into speaking. He made the perfect MC to warm up the audience with some humor and then introduce us as speakers.

A short time later when the group was having a business meeting Bill and Opal suggested that they take possession of the mailing list and keep it up. After all, Opal was doing most of the typing and paperwork so things would be easier if they completely took charge of the list.

Something inside me told me this was a bad idea and I resisted but everyone there including Curtis thought it was a good idea. It came to the point that if I insisted on maintaining control that I would look like I was using unjust authority. I finally yielded to the group, which was one of the few times in my life I acted contrary to inner guidance. I later learned (as we shall see) that the inner guidance was correct.

It wasn’t long before Onias received a revelation concerning me. He told me of it when he made as visit to Boise. He explained that God wanted me to write a treatise on marriage. I told him that I would pray about it and if I received confirmation that I would do it. I then sought and received confirmation and told him the next day that I believed his revelation was inspired and I would write the treatise. He seemed quite pleased with this answer.

After he went back to Canada I settled into contemplating the treatise. The interesting thing about the subject of marriage is that Both Onias and I expected the treatise would be supportive of plural marriage as taught by the early Mormons. He was a big believer in it as are most fundamentalists who break off from the church.

To this day the main body of the LDS church still teaches that Joseph and Brigham were correct in practicing it, and that it is entirely possible that the current or future prophet could receive a revelation to bring it back.

Most of those who have a strong Mormon background are open to the possibility of the return of polygamy. Most of the offshoots think the church was incorrect in stopping it and the practice should be continued.

At the time Curtis and I were open to the possibility of more than one wife but fortunately for us we woke up before that happened.

Anyway, I was contemplating the subject of marriage and nothing was coming to me to place on paper. I decided to read some scripture for inspiration. I browsed through the Bible reading here and there and finally this scripture caught my attention:

  20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

  21 “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

  22 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

  23 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

  24 “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

  25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

  26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

  27 “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

  28 “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

  29 “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

  30 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

  31 “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

  32 “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:20-32

After I read this I mused over the part that read: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.” I realized that this was a very controversial scripture and many females, especially feminists, were repulsed by it. This scripture had probably caused more people to reject Christianity than any other. As I contemplated I considered the possibility that this scripture was not understood correctly by the masses, or even the teachers.

As I continued my contemplation my eyes rested on Verse 32. Even though I had read the scriptures several times I did not recall ever seeing this verse. Let me repeat it:

“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

I immediately began to wonder what the “great mystery” was. Paul was giving us interesting and provocative doctrine, but I could not see how he could consider it a great mystery. I had always been interested in the mysteries and there were many things I desired to know, but there did not seem to be any great mystery in this scripture. I finally concluded that if Paul said there was a great mystery in what he was writing then there must be something I was not seeing. After all, Paul was no dummy.

I then read the chapter over several times looking for the mystery. My eyes then rested upon the controversial scripture, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.” Then I realized that there were four additional words in this verse that were overlooked which were, “as unto the Lord.”

Then I asked myself why we submit to Christ and the answer was because he has greater light and knowledge than do we. Next I asked why then would any woman submit to a man and the reason would be the same. She would only submit if he were like Christ in that he has a greater light he can give her. If the man does not have a greater light than the female he cannot represent Christ to her and no submission would be necessary.

As I contemplated I found this I found this thinking delicious to my soul and in the midst of this thought I was struck by spiritual lightening and within a second the whole principle of the Molecular Relationship was downloaded into my mind.

I rose and explained to myself, “Paul was right. He was speaking of a great mystery, perhaps the greatest mystery of all time that even explains creation itself. The mystery was not male and female as we know it, but energy, the positive and negative energy units that are the foundation of all creation.”

After pacing the floor for several moments I sat back down to write and this time had more to say than I had time to write. As I began the work I realized that this treatise was going to be much different than either Onias or I could have ever predicted.

I plunged into the treatise and finished the first draft within a few days. At first I called the concept “Molecular Marriage” rather than “The Molecular Relationship. When I was done I realized that I had written down a combination of principles that perhaps have never been put into words. I thought that since Onias seemed to have gotten a correct revelation for me to write a treatise expanding the principle of marriage that the light that was in him would see the inspiration through the same eyes that I had.

Curtis was the first one to read it and he thought it was inspired and was excited about the concept so that seemed to be a good omen. I also shared it with several members of the group who were very impressed with it. I mailed Onias a copy. He was coming down in a few days so this would give him time to digest it before we met again.

A week or so later he made another trip to Boise, Idaho, and I was very interested to see what he thought of the treatise. When he arrived we exchanged pleasantries as usual and when the time was right we sat down to discuss the manuscript. I laid a copy on the table and asked him what he thought of it. Suddenly, his countenance changed from amiable and friendly to very serious.

The dialog went something like this:

His head began shaking back and forth. “This is just not right,” he said looking at the manuscript.

“What’s not right?” I asked.

“This is nothing like I had envisioned.”

I explained that it was nothing like I had envisioned either, but if I had ever received a revelation in my life then this was it.

He then explained that I had not written the message that was needed which was to expand on the concept of plural marriage and what he called “the law of adoption.” He thought that I had gone off target toward what he called “dark doctrines,” and suggested I start over from scratch and rewrite the whole thing. He said that if I did not write it correctly, he would have to do it himself.

I told him that I would contemplate further to see if any more inspiration came but that I was very confident in what I had written so far.

He shook his head again and repeated that this just was not what he was looking for.

After that we kind of put the treatise on the shelf and didn’t speak of it between us but talked of other things. Then after he went back to Canada I continued to teach the principle. I thought to myself that if what I’ve written is correct that there would have to be an overshadowing to make a connecting link. It was not long after this that I received a witness to such a link. Such a witness was described in the overshadowing experience in my book The Lost Key of the Buddha,” but in different circumstances. That is all I will say at present and may write of the full experience at a later date.

After the experience I taught the molecular principles in earnest and sought to create a molecule of seekers. After teaching it to the local group I soon had six committed to the principle, including Bill and Onias’ daughter, and we seemed to be off to a workable start.

Around this time we received a call from Onias telling us that he wanted us to get together with a group of interested seekers in Texas. We had been in communication with several people there who really wanted to meet us and he told them that he would see if he could get Curtis and I and maybe several others from Boise to go down. A short time later a group of us were headed down to Texas.

We had a good meeting. It was empowering to have a merging of the Boise and Texas group. Everything went great until we approached end of our meetings and Onias shared with us a new revelation. Instead of being about doctrine this one consisted of personal instructions to each of us. Even that wouldn’t have bothered me if the instructions had a profound meaning, but these consisted of fairly trivial things. One thing that really got to us was that God supposedly issued instructions to Curtis’s wife, Kathy, that she was supposed to bake bread and sell it. We both knew that she would have no interest in pursuing this direction. To this day I cannot remember the rest of the instructions as they were all of similar trivial jobs.

The whole revelation just didn’t set well with us but we thought we owed it to Onias to give him a full consideration so we both knelt in prayer in our motel room and prayed about it.

We both received the same answer which was that this revelation came from his own personality, that revelation was not meant to direct people in trivial parts of our lives that are meant to be handled by our own decisions. We then approached Onias and told him the answer we had received, that we could not support the revelation. We reminded him that his own revelations told him his mission was to cry repentance to the church and that we did not sense that directing our lives was part of his calling.

He was very offended by this and insisted that this current revelation was as inspired as any he had received. Then we told him we were sorry but we couldn’t support a revelation just because he gave it but we had to receive a confirmation on anything that took us into new territory.

He seemed to understand, but a week or so after arriving home we learned that he received another revelation concerning us. The revelation stated that I had fallen from my station (whatever that was) “because of pride” and Curtis was astray also. The funny thing was that since Curtis and I were the heads of the group he could not throw us out or excommunicate us. He did the next best thing. He first gave his revelation to Bill and his daughter Opal who both accepted the revelation that I had fallen and, following his instructions, they took all copies of the mailing lists from the office and departed.

They then sent the revelation that I had fallen to everyone on the list along with a letter detailing a number of things about me that were either distorted or just flat out not true. They accused me of mishandling funds which I thought was odd since I had contributed significant funds to the work myself and had never taken anything for myself.

Whatever the case, even though Curtis and I were the head of the organization we found ourselves almost as bad as being expelled since we were without our list of seekers.

Around this point in time each prospect for “the Molecule” had a major event that turned their attention away from the goal. As I said Bill and Opal were the first to go. Since Opal was Onias’ daughter I could understand her allegiance, but Bill surprised me.

Then another guy went to church one Sunday and when he entered the building he heard a voice saying, “this is Zion.” He groveled to get back in the church and we never heard from him again. Another received a revelation that he was Hitler in a past life and went off to join the Aryan Nations. Everyone involved had something strange happen. Even Curtis was not immune for his wife had an affair that devastated him to the point that the work was the last thing on his mind. He wound up putting the work on hold and building up his business so he could survive in the real world.

Within a short time I had no group. No one was left but me. In this situation “the Presence” that communed with me  let and I thought I has failed in doing my part. He came back some time later and, stayed with me for a while and on departing would return when I had gathered the quality and quantity of people necessary to create the Molecule.

This has been my goal since that time, one that I will continue to work toward until my last breath and beyond to the next life if necessary.

Aftermath

Onias used Bill and Opal as a base of operations for himself in Boise, Idaho. He forbid both Curtis and I from using any revelation he ever wrote. He wrote his own treatise on marriage which was in support of the standard Fundamentalist view of plural marriage and Bill started keeping an eye out for a plural wife. There was no reasoning with them as they had their minds made up that Onias was right and I was in the wrong.

They worked with great zeal for Onias for a couple years and then they had a falling out. They wouldn’t explain what it was exactly, but it affected them profoundly to the extent that Opal had no interest in seeing her father again.

Unfortunately, they did not move out of the Fundamentalist mode and moved on to a new prophet who claimed to have the keys of the kingdom. Bill took one of the prophet’s daughters as his second wife and I have lost track of the number of kids he now has.

Onias, whose real name is Robert C. Crossfield, moved to Salem, Utah, near the Dream Mine and started an organization called “The School of the Prophets.” I read a number of his revelations since our split and couldn’t see any significant light in any of them. From the time he rejected my treatise on the Molecular Relationship it seemed that his revelations lacked the light they had in the past. One of his first revelations told him to not seek for a position, and it seemed that the later revelations created a fairly strong governing position for him.

The most significant part of his life was a sad one. Two brothers named Ron and Dan Laferty joined his group and started getting their own revelations. To his credit, when they started getting weird, Onias distanced himself from them.

They received a revelation to kill several people who were obstructions and they killed a woman and her daughter before they were stopped and arrested. This crime became the basis of a best selling book called “Under the Banner of Heaven.”

The author Jon Krakauer, wrote quite a bit about Onias and his history. I was glad to see that his association with Curtis and I was not mentioned in a book of this context. None of the accounts of his history mentions us. I think Onias wants to forget that he ever knew us.

His group moved away from the Dream Mine area and no one seems to know where they are.

I wasn’t planning on writing so much of my history in connection with the Ninth Key which is:

Ask Questions — Or Seek & you Shall Find

The key is to not only ask questions, but also just to question things. If I had accepted Onias without question I would have wound up in a more controlled situation than I was in the Church. Not only that but as easy as it is for me to irritate people I could have wound up on the Lafferty brother’s hit list.

Questions and questioning do not come naturally. The seeker must jar his mind loose, formulate questions and ask them; and then continue to seek the answer until he is satisfied.

“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.” — Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)

June 4, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship

Key Nine: Ask Questions, Part 3

A Journey Without Purse or Script

A short time latter we began to accumulate a sizable mailing list with a significant number expressing interest in our work. Several even moved to Boise from various parts of the country. Most people though didn’t want to move to Boise to see us and we began to receive an increasing number of requests for us to go see them.

In particular there was a group in Phoenix that wanted us to come down, and the leader of the group told us that if we just made it down there that they would provide a place to stay and the funds to return.

After thinking about it we decided to make a trip. Our first stop was going to be the Salt Lake City, Utah, area where we had a number of people wanting to see us. Then we would swing by the Los Angeles, California, area and meet with some people there and then on to Arizona and back.

Before we left we had the harebrained idea to go without any money or credit cards. And where did we get that?

Jesus sent his apostles out without “purse or script” and told them people they taught would provide for their needs. Then in the days of Joseph Smith all the missionaries went without any funds and people provided for them despite their notorious reputation. We reasoned that if they could do it then we could do it. The fact that we had very little money at the time also made the idea appealing. We figured though that we should start with enough gas money to reach Salt Lake City, then we would depend on the people as did the apostles of old.

Our first stop on the way to Salt Lake City, Utah, was a Kentucky Fried Chicken near the Twin Falls, Idaho, area. I figured we had enough money for a few pieces of chicken, but Curtis had other ideas. He struck up a conversation with the manager who happened to be a cute looking young lady. After applying some charm he explained that we were on a mission from God (This was before the movie, “The Blues Brothers.”) and asked her to buy us lunch. To my surprise a few minutes later she brought to the table two large chicken dinners.

I congratulated him on his accomplishment and thought this may be a good sign. Maybe this living off the people was doable after all.

After we arrived at Salt Lake we started visiting several people on our mailing list. This was one area where we had a few actual Mormons on our list. The people we visited were interested in what we had to say, but aloof. They all wanted to keep one foot in the door of the church just in case the authorities were right. Getting any donations from them to help us on our way was like pulling teeth. By the end of the day we had maybe $5 and a donated book. The book was “The Keys of Enoch,” by J J Hurtak. This was supposed to be a revelation from God and we found it quite interesting.

We ended the day visiting the last person on our list, which was a young single mother. She was very sweet and sincere and our last chance to get enough money for gas to get to our next stop which was in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area. After answering some of her questions and explaining some teachings we told her of our situation and asked her if she could donate enough to fill up our tank. She said that she was in a bad way financially but would give us a couple dollars. We crossed our fingers and hoped we had enough gas money to get to our next stop.

She was gracious enough to feed us, but didn’t have a spare bedroom and offered to let us sleep on the floor of her small place. We accepted and took off to Las Vegas the next day.

We arrived at the next prospect’s place on fumes. We went out of our way to see this guy as he seemed to have much above average intelligence and seemed to be a true seeker.

We had a good visit with him and really liked him and wished he would move to Boise, Idaho, but he had pretty strong roots in the area. He gave us enough gas money to get to Los Angeles, California, and we spent a couple days there visiting with people on the list. One night we stayed with a kindly old couple and the next we didn’t have any place to stay, so we slept in a park.

Again we found getting donations of any kind was like pulling teeth but we thought we had enough gas money to get to Phoenix, Arizona. Once we got there we figured that the rest of the journey was a cinch for the leader had promised us enough money to take care of our travel expenses.

Again we arrived at our destination, but just barely as our tank was again near empty.

The group leader treated us amicably and told us the group had read some of the writings and were anxious to hear us address them. That evening around 15 people showed up and we talked to them mostly about the gathering principle. We found that most of the group felt that some type of apocalypse was coming soon, and most of them were not very group minded. Most just wanted to get some land in the wilderness and fend for himself when the expected collapse came. We met quite a few people of this mentality, as time passed, and came to call them “survivalists.”

Still they treated us well and we had a good visit with everyone till late in the evening. After everyone left we reminded the group leader of his promise to cover our travel expenses and told him we needed it then for we wanted to take off for home in the morning.

He looked a little startled and replied that he knew the group could come up with the money, but we should have hit them up for it while they were at the meeting.

We were beside ourselves and explained that we assumed that he was just going to give us the money and get it from the members himself.

“No,” he said. “That was not the plan.”

But he certainly gave us the impression that was the plan so we asked him if he could just give us enough money for gas and hit up the members themselves. He them explained that he was hard up at the moment and could maybe spare about five bucks (US dollars).

What were we supposed to do then, we asked for, we seemed to be stranded there. He then told us he would give us the address of some of the group who attended who lived nearby and we could visit them and ask for their assistance.

We didn’t want to do this at all but we had no choice so we took the names and the next day visited members from his list. Each visit was awkward and most didn’t have much money but by the end of the day we finally had enough money for gas to get home. As soon as we had enough money we took off and, outside of stopping at service stations, we drove straight home.

We felt ourselves fortunate to have survived the trip and be home in one piece. We concluded that going without purse or script wasn’t like it was in the old days. One difference was that the early apostles never had to worry about running out of gas.

“What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?” — Irv Kupcinet

June 1, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship

Key Nine: Ask Questions, Part 1

Or Seek & You Shall Find

Note: Because of its extra length this key will be presented in several sections. Here is part one

Questions

Why is this key important?

What’s the difference between those who ask questions and those who do not?

Why do so few ask questions and among those who do;

Why do so few ask the right questions?

When I was active in the Mormon Church I continually asked questions and sought knowledge outside the normal box. First, I sought out what was termed in the church as “the mysteries,” and then moved beyond regular church mysteries, such as the location of the lost ten tribes. I studied metaphysics and finally wound up settling on an extensive study of the Alice A. Bailey works.

The problem that developed was that there was no one in the church with whom I could share my thoughts. If your thinking gets too far off the mainstream then they will call you in, ask you questions, and may try you for your membership so I had to be careful  who I shared my thoughts with..

During this lonely period I took solace in this LDS scripture:

“For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.” Doctrine & Covenants 123:12

Even though this scripture was written with the non Mormons in mind I now felt that it applied to members of my own religion. I felt that surely I must not be that different, that there must be many in the church who are seeking the mysteries and greater knowledge and the only reason they do not have it is they do not know where to look. If I were free to teach them I figured that there had to be many who would gladly respond and absorb the teachings.

In 1979 I finally got my chance to test this scripture as I was excommunicated for wrong thinking. After the church had done their worst to me I had nothing to lose in approaching anyone I wanted and explaining to them what I had learned.

I started with my oldest sister as she had earlier inspired me through conversations we had to search for knowledge in the scriptures. I wanted to return the favor and called her up and attempted to explain a few things.

I was startled to learn that she was completely closed to everything I was saying and the conversation ended with her telling me that she was going to place my name in all the temples for the prayer circles to pray over. She hoped that the power of God would set me straight.

I next called up an old girlfriend who seemed to be a real seeker when I was going with her as well as very open-minded.

I received a similar response from her as I did my sister with the caveat that she would burn anything I would send her.

To my dismay I received a similar response from everyone in the church that I approached and I found that anything I gave members to read they just didn’t throw it away, but burned it. It seemed to them that if they did not burn them then the writings may get in the wrong hands and corrupt someone.

After this I brainstormed with my nephew, Curtis, who had been excommunicated for the same reason as I. He had been receiving the same response as I but we both still had faith in the scripture and figured the seekers had to be out there somewhere. We decided to advertise in the local “Thrifty Nickels.” He lived in the Idaho Falls area at the time, and I lived near Boise so we decided to advertise in the papers in those two areas. The ad went something like this:

“To all LDS looking for greater light and truth send us your address and we’ll send you free enlightening information.”

To our surprise about the only response we received was from non-Mormons, except for one LDS guy in Curtis’ area. Our ads did create quite a bit of buzz though and one Sunday, Curtis decided to go to church and check out the temperature of the members. As Sunday School class was ending he rose up and announced something like this:

“My brothers and sisters. I’m sure you’ve heard about the ads for LDS seeking greater light and truth. Well, I thought I’d let you know that it was me who placed them in the local paper. I have some free information I would be happy to give you and will stand at the exit to my right. Anyone who goes through that exit I will give some literature.”

Curtis then proceeded to the exit on the right and to his dismay every single person went out in the exit on his left.

When Curtis told me about this I had a good laugh and appreciated his boldness. Then again we asked, “Where are those people who are seeking for the truth and just can’t find it because they know not where to look?

After we brainstormed again we decided to give a seminar in Mormon rich Idaho Falls.

We rented a conference room at the Holiday Inn and ran ads in the local daily paper. Then we went down there three days before the event and passed out flyers all over town. I can’t remember the topic but I think it had something to do with the mystery of God and receiving revelation. We thought it would stimulate interest but evidently there was something in the ad that raised a red flag.

The big day finally came and Curtis and I prepared to receive the multitude of seekers storming the door.

We waited and waited and waited and no one came. As we were about to fold up and go home one lone soul finally drifted in.

It was a sixteen-year-old kid.

We welcomed him and asked him what caused him to come.

He said he came to call us to repentance.

Curtis and I looked at each other and we didn’t have to speak. We knew what each other was thinking. This was worse than no one showing up. It was adding insult to injury to have a brainwashed kid show up calling for us to repent from seeking the mysteries of the kingdom.

This was indeed a needed wake up call. From that moment on we knew we had an uphill battle if we thought we were going to attract Mormons with teachings that are out of the box.

Then later we discovered that that vast majority of people in general are attached to some believe system that greatly hinders their seeking, keeping them in the prison of a box powered by their own thinking.

“The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good.” — Ruth Benedict (1887 – 1948)

May 26, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship,
Key Eight – Set Reachable Goals

In this world we are limited by time and space and such limitations must be recognized and taken into consideration. One of the problems with the aspirant as he moves along the path is that idealistic visions come to his mind and when they do, he wants them to materialize immediately if not sooner.

He often expects the ideal to become reality through some divine interference with little effort to be made on his part.

DK spoke wisely on this subject:

“The visionary dreamer or the well-intentioned but impractical person whose ideas and world plans and suggestions as to the new world order litter the desks of world leaders and of those groups and organizations who are attempting practically to blueprint the future. Their dreams and ideas deal with projects for which the world of today is not ready and will not be ready for several thousand years. It is an easy thing for them to present impossible Utopias which have not the faintest relation to things which are needed today and which could be made possible. The name of these people is legion, and at this time they constitute a definite hindrance. A vision of the impossible is not the type of vision which will keep the people from perishing. Because of an inability to compromise and to face up to things as they are, these people and those whom they influence are landed in despair and disillusionment.” The Externalization of the Hierarchy, Page 459

The aspiring disciple must realize that as it has been in the past as far as struggle and work goes so will it be in the future. As we look at the past we see that progress has been slow and often painstaking. There has never been a giant leap to the ideal but progress has always been in increments. Those souls in our history who have understood this and done what is necessary to make the next step have been the servants of real value.

Those who have dreamed of the kingdom and thought all they would have to do is believe and wait for God to make things happen have been of little use to God or man.

Great events and advances can be made to happen if a small number of people are willing to take the necessary incremental steps.

If you want to climb to the top of a ten-foot ladder, do you try and ascend all in one step? Of course not. Those who try this will never get to the top. The successful one will be he who climbs one step at a time. He is the one who will reach the top.

This Key should be easy, but because of natural impatience, the setting of reachable goals is often the problem that snags the seeker and stops him in his tracks.

It is fine to see the overall vision and the ideal, but then the disciple must realistically calculate the work that must be done and the next step to be taken. He must then work on that next step, not the third, fifth or tenth step down the road.

The problem is that the next step often involves nitty gritty work that is not that much fun while the fun work is several steps down the path. The seeker often thinks he is entitled to do the fun work now and leave the nuts and bolts to others.

The trouble is that his misplaced attention often causes the nuts and bolts work to be undone or long delayed.

The true disciple is willing to do what is necessary to move the work forward into the next step:

  * He is willing to get his hands dirty and do work that may be difficult, boring and not fun.

  * He is willing to work with or without recognition.

  * He is willing to suffer financially, in relationships and prestige to get the job done.

  * But he will not make such sacrifices for an impossible dream but is willing to sacrifice much for a practical next step.

  * He accepts the fact that the ideal may not be reached in his lifetime.

  * Be plans ahead not only for the present life, but for future lives.

  * He accepts the weaknesses of his fellow workers and incorporates them into the equation for the next step.

The seeker will find his next step though contemplation of the inner voice of the soul and when he takes it, it will just feel right inside as  he moves forward.

Understanding Limitations

Question: Aren’t we supposed to reject limitations and that faith can even move mountains?

We are unlimited except for one thing and that is our Ring-Pass-Not. In other words we are limited by the thought system to which we   subscribe.

The only limitation that cannot be removed is that of time and space when we are occupying them. They are not limitations in the higher worlds, but always must be dealt with in this sphere of activity.

How about disease, death and aging? Can Decision overcome these limitations, or can they be overcome at all?

Yes, the limitations of these three can be overcome, but not by Decision alone. Decision, however, is the first step as it opens the door to progress.

Disease is overcome when the seeker learns to live in harmony with his environment in the inner and outer worlds. An important key is to harmonize with the soul and not place oneself in the position of resisting.

Death and aging have the same solution. Aging can be slowed down by overcoming disease, but will only be mastered by overcoming death. Death is overcome through the principle of being born again without having to die.

We die because our progress reaches stagnation in certain areas. Then we physically die and are reborn in a circumstance where we are forced to make progress again.

When the seeker harmonizes with his soul and monad and can see how he needs to die to his old nature and be reborn with goals and desires anew without the force of physical death, he can then extend his life as long as the process is useful.

This is easier said than done as the true spiritual rebirth takes a powerful application of the Will over an extended period of time. This Will forces the lower and higher natures to blend and merge until the power of Spirit regenerates the physical body.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888)

May 23, 2009

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Matter, Time & Space

We seek to understand the formless worlds where neither matter, time or space exist. There can be no time without the motion of form.

The Mayas were partly right about time going forward and backward at the same time. It flows somewhat like the wheel of a car. Half of the wheel is going forward and the other half going backward. On the other hand, the vehicle that is being carried by the wheel goes one direction.

We are being carried along by time from the past into the future and with each turn of the wheel history repeats itself on a higher turn of the spiral.

Only by withdrawing your consciousness from the world of form to formlessness can you see the past, present and future as the “Eternal Now.”

The fact that space cannot exist without matter is easily seen if you think about it. Space is merely the measure of voids between defined matter. If there was no form there would be no such thing as a distance between anything. If your consciousness existed in a place where there was no form your only awareness of form would be the point of consciousness where you exist. Nothing outside of yourself would have any meaning or definition, including time.

There are other worlds of form governed by laws quite different than some that we recognize. There are worlds where the life principle is governed by the square, others governed by the circle. Ours is governed by the triangle.

There are other life forms in the universe built on a foundation of silicon rather than carbon as ours is. The computer is the beginning of the creation a new life form. Loving your computer may have some meaning in a future age.

Foundation principles are the same in all creation. Branch principles will vary.

More on Decision

We are all unlimited when we look at time as a whole, but we all have limitations in the present. All of us have limitations on our decision set by our present state of consciousness. This is called our ring-pass-not in esoteric writings.

I just achieved a new piece of enlightenment on decision this past week. I do not know why I did not see it before.

The key is to plant a question about decision in your mind as you would plant a seed in the ground. Look for growth to happen and nourish it with your expectation.

Here are some questions to contemplate:

What is your next level of understanding about the principle of decision?

Where is your present Ring-Pass-Not for your power of decision? Is there an area of your life over which you do not think you have power that you could assume power with the principle of decision?

Example: We seem to be powerless to overcome death, disease and aging. Can decision return power to us?

How is decision related to the life principle? Does life even exist without decision?

How is the motion of all things related to decision?

You are not expected to obtain all knowledge here, but to merely go a step forward in your own consciousness and understanding, then you will advance to the next principle.

Animals and Consciousness

Your dog does not think before he barks, he does, however, have consciousness. Most of your dog’s barking is from an internal program. Some advanced dogs and other animals are learning to think, but few of them do at present. Language is not before thought, nor is thought before language. They are created simultaneously just as male and female were.

Few humans have mastered more than 10% of the thinking process.

Using your computer brain is not thinking. Becoming the computer programmer is thinking.

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

May 21, 2009

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12 Keys of Discipleship
Key Seven – Find Your Mission

The disciple must have a mission. Why?

Without a mission the seeker’s energies will be scattered and however good are his intentions he will not accomplish much. A mission is a work to do in a focused area and when thought is directed away from everything to a pin-pointed objective miracles of achievement can be accomplished.

A great example of what can be done with a mission is the space program. When the race for space started the United States just ambled along with no clear objective. Their energies were further scattered with the Army and Navy competing against each other for research and development funds.

The Soviets, on the other hand, had a clear sense of mission which was to be the first in space. They knew if they could accomplish this, they would score a major public relations victory.

Then, sure enough, in 1957 they launched the first satellite in orbit and startled the world. This woke us up to our own sense of mission and finally Kennedy sealed the deal by making a specific mission goal to put a man on the moon before 1970.

Finally, we had a specific mission and worked toward it, Then two tragedies happened making many wonder if the mission could be accomplished. First, JFK [John F. Kennedy] was assassinated and, secondly, three astronauts were killed by a fire inside their capsule.

Many began to wonder if the mission was just a fanciful dream. But instead of treating the drawbacks as failure they saw them as sacrifices that must bear fruit and the work continued. Finally, on July 20, 1969, the first man set foot on the surface of the moon.

The world was amazed and even now, 40 years later, it is such a fantastic feat that many people on the planet do not believe it happened.

The mission was accomplished. What was next? Were we going to Mars, build a base on the moon or what? For the next 40 years there were few specific goals and nothing much very specific happened. Bush 43 kind of set a goal to go to Mars and return to the moon but no one got excited and many didn’t want to spend any additional money.

Unless someone sets a far-reaching goal for space, governments may just dabble in it for another 40 years, or until private enterprise decides to be the ones to set the new mission — as they have with computers.

Without a mission, even the best of intentions and great knowledge will accomplish little.

How does the disciple find out what the mission is?

Let me tell my own story here. I had a sense of mission from my earliest memories. I knew I had something to do, but didn’t know what it was. When I was around 6 I went to a movie and the main character said he was a scientist. I had no idea what a scientist was but felt that had something to do with my mission. When I got home I asked my mother what a scientist was. After she explained I announced to her that was what I was going to be.

She then told me there were many different kinds of scientists. I needed to figure out which kind I wanted to be. Over the next couple years I thought about it and decided that I wanted to be an astronomer. I was especially interested in the moon and 9 planets and learned everything I could about them. I was fascinated in looking over pictures of them and dreaming about what the future would reveal about them.

Then my uncle bought me a sizable telescope and I was in hog heaven exploring the celestial bodies but also made the neighbors a little nervous for fear I may be spying on them. Some of them seemed to think a telescope could see through walls.

One thing bothered me about astronomy and that was, even though I found it fascinating, there was not much chance of making significant change by looking through telescopes and mapping the heavens. I began to wonder if my mission was not something else. I asked myself this question.

What can I do that would accomplish the highest good for the world?

About the time I was pondering this I began to get interested in making homemade rockets. I had a great time doing this and began setting new rockets off almost daily. Then at the age of 13, on the evening of December 26, 1958 a friend and I were putting the finishing touches on a rocket in our kitchen. As I was working on it, it exploded in my left hand and sent me to the hospital for a month. My friend was also injured but not nearly as bad.

As I was recovering in the hospital a friend brought me a book on rockets and space flight. It was the first book that I had ever read from cover to cover. After I finished it I thought about my mission along these lines: I could perform a much greater service to mankind by building rockets and exploring new worlds than by just looking at them as an astronomer. Then, at that moment I decided I was going to be an astronautical engineer and build rockets to explore the planets. From that point on I developed a love of exploratory reading and studied everything available about rockets and space flight.

Then, about the age of 16 I developed an interest in writing, but still stuck to my goal of becoming an engineer. My interest in writing increased until I started my freshman year at the University of Idaho. I entered the college of engineering majoring in mechanical engineering. I dreamed of going to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but that was not to be.

At the end of my first semester something happened that shattered my mission. I received my first failing grades in my life and it was in my two greatest loves. The first was mechanical drawing — a key course for any engineer. Even though I loved rocket science and the end results of engineering I found I didn’t have much love for the nuts and bolts. Just learning the basics like precise lettering was painful for me.

The second class I failed was English. In high school I always did okay in English, but the teacher of this class was a strange guy that seemed to take a dislike to me.

When I saw my two “F’s” I was devastated. Maybe I just wasn’t intelligent enough to be an engineer or a writer. Maybe my sense of mission was just a dream. What was I to do with my life, I wondered.

After I adjusted to the shock of my low grades I assessed my situation and asked myself some questions.

I realized I could retake the failed courses and was confident I could be a good engineer, but I also realized something else and that was this. It did not appear that I was going to enjoy doing the tedious work of an engineer which is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

I was developing a greater interest in writing and often found myself at the library reading literary works and past issues of The Writer magazine  instead of working on my classes. I then decided that, figuring my interests and ability, the highest direction I could take would be as a writer. Even though I had just received an “F” in English I was not discouraged.

Since there was no major available or even one course on creative writing I decided to drop out of engineering and just take whatever courses interested me. I felt that if I was going to write that a broad knowledge of things would be helpful.

I thus changed my major to political science and minored in journalism. In addition, I took any course I saw that I found interesting.

Then after my first year of college I went on a mission for the LDS church, as was the custom for young men in the church of that age.

I was called to go to England and serve for two years. One thing that served me well during this period was the one-pointedness of my direction. All my energies were directed to “teaching the gospel” and nothing else. Learning and teaching were the only two endeavors. We worked every spare moment from 6 AM to 10 PM, and often til midnight.

During this period I studied the scriptures and church doctrine every spare moment and fell in love with the concept of Zion. Zion was a society patterned after the order of heaven, which was to manifest upon the earth and produce peace on earth, goodwill to men as well as abundance for all. Best of all it was composed of a gathering of the “pure in heart” that would make it a much more desirable society than we have today.

By the end of the two years I had concluded that the greatest need of the planet was not engineers or scientists in the physical sense, but spiritual scientists.

But there was a major problem with proceeding with my ideas of spiritual science which was this. In the church you had to wait to be called to a work that involves building Zion.

After my mission I went back to college and continued taking a variety of courses. I found myself spending more time at the library studying writing on my own and writing on the side than attending to my studies. I still dreamed of building Zion but seemed limited to working within any calling the church would give me.

I remember I sometimes wished I had lived back in the days of Joseph Smith when there seemed to be much more opportunity to do a great work than there was in modern times. It seemed as if the day of opportunity had passed.

This thinking was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

The only thing that took my consciousness beyond this mistake is that I never ceased asking questions, seeking and studying, not only church approved writings but anything in the direction of spiritual knowledge.

From the age of 21 to 27 I had a sense of mission about building Zion, but there seemed to be no way to go about it because of restrictions from the church. Then, to make a long story short at the age of 27 I proved to myself that reincarnation was a true principle and this changed everything within an instant.

At that point I realized that I did not have to wait for the church to call me to service, but that I could call myself. The true elect are those who elect to serve to the highest of their capacity and let the chips fall where they may.

My free thinking got me kicked out of the church in 1979, but on reflection I call that graduation day.

It was thus around the age period of 27-30 (the end of my first Saturn cycle) that I fined tune my mission and finally settled on the highest good I could pursue.

I had finally found my mission and have sought to accomplish it with varying degrees of enlightenment since that time.

That which I went through is what each true disciple must go through, but with different circumstances. Several things will be the same for all:

  * He who is ready to be a disciple in his current life will have had a sense of mission from his youth, or younger years.

  * That which he is supposed to do will not be clear until he follows the highest he knows for some period of time.

  * Just as I had the church limiting me even so will each disciple have influences in his life that seem to limit him.

  * If the seeker “endures to the end” he will find his mission and it will be confirmed through his soul. As he proceeds on such a confirmed mission it will feel very right and satisfying to work on it.

A reader asked if sometimes we take off on the wrong mission before we find the right one.

The answer is yes. This will usually happen. I went from thinking my mission was astronomy to engineering, to fiction writing and a number of other possibilities until I finally found my true course.

But know this. The pursuit of a misdirected mission is far from a waste of time for that which is learned during this period will be invaluable knowledge when the true mission is found.

Another important point is this. Do not think that finding your mission means you will be a Moses or Lincoln. It merely means that you will find the correct work to do. That work may be an effort in cooperation with many other souls. For instance, the building of Zion will take the efforts of many sons and daughters of men on the same mission.

Also keep in mind that the building of Zion is only one mission of many attempted by true seekers.

Then a final point is this. For many the purpose of their life will be directed to learning more than serving. Sometimes a whole lifetime or series of lifetimes is dedicated to learning so the seeker can be equipped to perform a great service at a future date.

“The past is finished. There is nothing to be gained by going over it. Whatever it gave us in the experiences it brought us was something we had to know.” — Rebecca Beard

May 18, 2009

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