1. Assurance
2. Search For Sustainability
3. Acceptance
4. Light And Assurance
5. The container metaphor for truth

Elyon (Mark TR): Greetings, my dear friends and associates, this is Elyon here to add a few more thoughts to your thought stream and discussion. Today I would have a few comments to say on the subject of assurance.

As you well know in your own lives, having a sense of assurance or conviction is a necessary aspect of your forward growth momentum. It brings you at times great comfort to have a certain sense of assurance about such things as who you really are, what you are really doing in the big game of life, and how you are associated in this game to all that is. You who have developed the foundation of awareness and understanding have, as a result of your efforts in this process, gained a certain degree of assurance which provides you a stable footing to use to venture out and be about this process of growth and exploring dimensions unknown.

This assurance that you have built up over time that you do in fact have some sense of your position, of your worth, and of the value of this journey that you are on, this sense of certainty enables you to feel secure in the actions that you take in life and that they are in fact in accordance with your desires and goals and the overall plan as you see it. So it can be said that one who has assurance has a certain conviction which brings them a certain peace of mind as to their direction and their purpose and, if one has peace of mind about their direction and purpose, they are secure when it comes time to manifest this purpose and reach out into areas of uncertainty.

The security that you build up goes with you into these areas of the unknown because you have them as your possession, as part of your being. Once you well know that you are, for instance, eternally loved by your Creator and eternally cherished as who you are you are willing to extend yourself and manifest conditions and experiences that if you were uncertain of these basic principles you might not venture out to investigate.

Lack of assurance or lack of certainty is stifling and debilitating. because it means that you are uncertain as to how to proceed. It is the dog chasing his tail round and round uncertain that you are moving in an appropriate direction, that you are cared for throughout your process, and that in the end you are not only all right you are quite well.

This sense of security and certainty is developed over time by your trial and readjustments as you investigate these defining issues of your foundation and you assemble beneath you this platform on which you will stand of what you consider your fundamental basic principles. These provide you the sturdiness from which you may reach out even further and the security that your footing is sound.

To ones who have not developed this platform of awareness they may find themselves unable to proceed or fear that they may err or that they are somehow in jeopardy or danger by venturing into the unknown not having the security of a solid platform to venture from. You see this in your civilization in your family lives. Those children who are reared in families which are loving and nurturing environments and which reinforce the idea of self worth and value to their little ones provide this foundation from which these little ones may be bold enough to venture out with the assurance that they are loved, they are cared for, there is a support network behind them on which they may depend. These children will reach far and will go far and will truly take advantage of the classroom at hand.

Other children who are less fortunate and do not have this solid base of understanding and foundation will for the rest of their lives function from a place of uncertainty, of doubt, lack of assurance and therefor lack of conviction that they are indeed proceeding in any sort of proper direction or that they have any basis behind them for support. So many times they will simply cease to act, cease to take any forward steps for fear of its unknown effects, ramifications. They lack the assurance, the confidence, that comes from this foundation of basic assumptions that they are children of divine creators who are cherished beyond their capacity to understand and that they are safe in all their endeavors given these basic truths and understandings.

So it is that we as teachers on our side of the veil constantly strive to provide you with some sense of assurance, not only of your connection to us and the reality that this is so, but of your greater connection to your divine parents, to your Creator. This ultimate assurance that you seek is most profoundly demonstrated in your connection of your inner guide. When you are brought assurance through this channel or avenue of connection it is with a profound sense, and once having encountered such profound assurance there is removed all doubt as to its validity or your connection to its validity.

This is the value of regular stillness exercise, for assurance is sought and required and received from many different sources. You receive assurance from each other in your discussion. You receive assurance from your association with the brotherhood of man, and you also may receive assurance from within that is not conditioned by your receiving it from another mortal of the realm.

You will all grant the validity of this statement that, when you have received your internal confirmations, they are indeed profound and strike to the very core of your being because your inner guide knows you the best and is aware of your needs, your desires, and your given state of receptivity at any time. Therefore when you seek in stillness the assurance and it is forthcoming, it registers at a very deep level in your being, far more profound and significant than any surface reassurance that you may receive from your peers or associates. Once having received this assurance it is yours; it is part of your foundation.

So I recognize within you all that you have spent much time working on this foundation of assurance of your basic ideas about basic principles, even about your individual ideals. These are the factors that once cemented into place provide you with firm footing, a place to stand and reach from. We sometimes refer to you building scaffolds on which you grow higher and higher in your awareness level by simply focusing on the next level in your project of building this platform. After some effort and time you may look down and notice that you have achieved new heights as a result of putting more and more foundation beneath you on which to stand.

It is always a pleasure to join you in your conversation. I am deeply respectful for the opportunity that you present for this purpose, and I would now step aside to allow this platform for others as well. Thank you for hearing my words.

Serena (Kathy): In the search for sustainability of systems on this planet there are aspects to consider. The aspect of growth has to be assessed in a manner that allows for a perception of progress without overwhelming the resources available. As you become more cognizant of the principles of sustainability, you will see a pattern that develops in sustainable systems. The perception of progress has been an underlining part of economic activities in the recent past. In a sustainable system the measurement of progress may need to shift to a level that can be maintained.

Your part in forming a new framework for progress will involve your own planning and concept of comfort and necessity. What is viewed in our current society as necessary may need modification to a level that can be shared by all. This does not mean that hope for better conditions is extinguished; it may mean that a rethinking of “necessity” will bring a volunteer reduction to a simpler level such as cleaning of your home of unnecessary objects can create an environment of freedom and space to grow in new directions.

In a larger picture, the reduction of excess in our consumption may lead to a feeling of security and peace that has been missing recently, as the search for more and more material objects has led to a feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction with life in general. As focus has shifted from the material things of life, the space will be open for deeper relationships with people around us as well as a deeper relationship with our Creator and the universe around us. This will lead to a great inner peace and serenity in the individual as well as the group as a whole. A true brotherhood of man will expand on this world as adjustments are made in the individual. It all begins with a rethinking of what is needed for a good life on this world.

Malvantra (Jonathan): My greetings to you, this is Malvantra. I will speak about acceptance, for it is a value that is currently a lesson for Urantia, as your world shrinks through its connectivity and enlarges in its scope.

Picture if you will a container and fill it with very fine sand. If that container is rigid as is an urn of clay or a steel bucket, that fine sand will adjust and conform to the shape. If we consider the sand to be truth and the container to be one’s understanding of the truth, then you will recognize that all peoples are encountering truth and contain it in their own manners. This is true with spirit or spirituality and religion.

Now one may ask, what if in that fine sand there existed several rocks, quite large. Within the rigid container viewing it from outside you would see no difference. In a flexible container such as a sack you might notice a bulge as that rock does not conform to the shape of the container but rather the container to the shape of the contents. In the search for truth you may see a boulder and consider it not the truth. If your philosophy is rigid as a pail you may not ever recognize the error. If your philosophy is adjustable you will note that error and may be alerted to extract it or perhaps in this metaphorical analogy to grind it to sand.

When you look upon another you see the container. In some you immediately recognize the contents; in others it is opaque, yet within it’s still the same. If you break the integrity of the shell that contains the truth of another you create a leak. It is best to accept the framework within which another holds the truth, to disregard that form by which they possess and rather to express what you contain within, for one container may pour into another quite easily. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” He also said, “Do not put new wine in old wineskins.” And he did not say, “You shall know the doctrines and the doctrines will set you free”, for the doctrines are the containers.

Groups of humankind do find camaraderie and acceptance of one another most often in the form of nesting baskets where the shapes are similar enough to be acceptable. But there are also those who can reach beyond the familiar, if I may continue with the analogy, as would a plastic bag within a steel container. It can adjust and come to understand the other’s position. Now the acceptance may not be mutual, for a rigid container within a soft plastic bag may cause damage even though it is embraced.

Elyon spoke of assurance. This assurance is regarding the content within any given container. Some of you have gone from rigid containers to a more flexible one and have enjoyed the adaptability that offers and see that it is good and well. Others have gone from leaky sacks, the holes too large to contain and transport the truth received; it gets lost continually, and you have moved on to a firm, solid container and see that as good and well.

Truth is like your perception of time. You may perceive time as a vast expanse of eternity. You may see it as a momentary instant. You may see truth as infinitesimal grains of sand or as one universally large boulder. You know of your past and your future, but you also understand the inability to live in either state, and this is so with truth. You may attempt to retain all truth within yourself, but alas, it is the truth of the instant that is bearing on your life and your consciousness.

This does not disregard the validity of prior states of truth awareness any more than you would say that the gasoline spent in your vehicle yesterday was worthless but the gas of this moment is the best. Each individual will fill himself with the truth as it is best absorbed, and that truth will modify that the soul will be uplifted. In the growth of the soul the truth will adjust and the soul will adjust that both come into a harmonic resonance.

You know of the truth that is within yourself. Accept the truth that is in another. The two are shaped differently, but that is merely your contain-ability of that truth. Remember that while you may wish to pour your grains into the container of another, and sometimes this is beneficial, far greater is the pouring of the grains of truth from the God of all, the unbounded, uncontained, absolute truth.

May I return to my comment of the truth setting you free? This freedom is the experience of the adaptability of truth. It is the understanding that if you wish to mold truth into a shape you may do so. It is the freedom to allow the truth to not have any shape whatsoever also. The freedom that truth sets you into is the freedom to make your own stand for truth, to be bold enough to acclaim the validity of your experience of that truth. And it is also a freedom that is your own right; no longer must you possess another’s truth; it is your personal experience, and it may be acquired in any manner, not necessarily A through Z.

While all of you, while you ascend to Paradise, will eventually have A through Z, you may accumulate in many different ways. While your fellows may only have L, M, N, and O and you D, E, and F, you both are working towards the fullness of truth, and this is the manner in which you may accept one another, and this is the freedom you have to experience the reality of God in the manifestation of truth.

I thank you.

Light (Mark): I am humbled to greet you as well, I am Light here once again to shine some more light into the discussion. In working with these thought frames and this idea of assurance we may see light as fitting into this discussion in perhaps the following context.

If you are secure and comfortable and embracing much content of truth then you are said to be lifted up in brilliance. It is noted that you are lighter and brighter the more you gather to yourselves this sense of purpose, awareness, and ultimate conviction. As you become lighter and brighter in this process this luminescence which is part of your constitution helps you to dispel areas of uncertainty with the bright luminescence and so what may be oppressive because it is uncertain and unknown and lingers in darkness, to another may be exposed and illuminated by one who brings with them this light of assurance. Or having this internal assurance means that you are a carrier of this light, and as it goes with you throughout your experience, those things in proximity to you simply become illuminated.

Where there is no darkness there is no fear of the unknown and uncertainty does not dominate you to the point of inaction. Rather it is as though you wear a headlamp, and everywhere you choose to direct your gaze there is light there with you. No matter how many times you turn your head to refocus your gaze, there is the light. This light you have brought with you is your assurance that all that is out there is in fact a friendly place to simply be illuminated, not a fearful and dark and unknown place because you are groping from a position of insecurity and uncertainty yourself. Wherever you are there is the light. Wherever you are your truth is there.

So you may be confident of never being caught in the dark, never being subjected to the oppressive conditions of uncertainty and fear that being left in the dark presents. Rather carry with you this assurance as your headlamp knowing it will illuminate the way of your choosing. So it is it naturally and effortlessly dispels the dark and uncertain places and illuminates them for what they truly are, and then they may be gathered to you as these grains of sand more easily and readily in this process.

Thank you for allowing me to shine a little more light in context. Farewell.

END