[tmtranscripts] Learning to Communicate [04-24-97.PGH]

[Gerdean]

DATE: April 24, 1997
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/Rs: Gerdean and Hunnah

TEACHER: TOMAS and MERIUM
TOPIC: Learning to Communicate

STUDY: Urantia Book 
Paper 5, Continued 

Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, thank you for your very existence and for ours, for the gift of personality and the gift also of free will. Help us, dear Father, to know what to do with these valuable gifts that You have given us. Help us to align ourselves with Your will that these gifts may give back to You our devotion and appreciation for your gift to us, in that, dear Father, we may be granted eternal life.

"We have come a long way in our growth, in our desire to know You, in our spiritual growths and in our service to others. Sometimes, dear Father, it seems we've already been at this an eternity and yet we realize that we have only begun. Help us to realize, dear Father, our growth, our reality, our eternal aspects through You. Give us confidence of our relationship, of your indwelling and our eternal life.

"Also, Father, help us to see in others Your personality. You, through our brothers and sisters, that our lives may be enriched, knowing that You walk with us, that You share this experience with us, that we are not alone, but that Your presence is indeed a constant among us. Help us to rise above the fetters of fear, and radiate the personality that You would have us be, that we may be loved for You. In Michael's name we pray. Amen."

TOMAS: Good evening, faithful flock. 

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: Sometimes it feels like a dog in heat, that we chase our tail trying to catch up with ourselves, but indeed when we finally catch up with ourselves we are found in Him.

Your meeting this evening has been most intriguing. Your studies are amazing. Your personalities are a flower garden of unimaginable color. And yet you are indeed each a creation and an extension of the God of personality. Radiant blooms, one and all.

I realize that our format is topsy-turvy, but this is part of learning how to work as a team. I would not want our group to become crystallized and regimented to the point where you approached it with a ho-hum attitude, nor do I want you to feel burdened by the cerebral aspects of the text and the ponderousnous of the Teachers' lessons, but we must formulate some order in order that we can maintain a sense of family and continuity.

I would suggest henceforth that all your gatherings begin with a moment of stillness. This simple, rudimentary practice is invaluable in giving your mind and soul a focus; not only for yourselves individually but as a testimony to each other that you are now embarking upon a season of application toward spirit intent.

I also would like to introduce a practice of sharing that has been successful in some communities. As Merium has observed, you each have an almost desperate need to express yourselves and this aspect of personality can be developed. Therefore, I would like to institute, with your permission and cooperation, a segment of time devoted to personal sharing, and in this upcoming addendum, I will ask you to manifest some discipline, for your socialization in this realm overlaps significantly and you digress. But in the format that I would suggest, I would ask that you recall the assignment from the previous week and address the group, one at a time, as to your week's activities, in particular having to do with the effects of the assignment.

In this way you will have opportunity to apply yourself to the lesson in a meaningful way, for you will need to report to your peers, by way of socialization. It also will accommodate your need to share aspects of your life with each other. It will serve the purpose also of, in an orderly fashion, notifying your teachers of whether or not you have done your homework. There is merit to this proposed format, and it is not just for our convenience that we suggest this, but for your delight.

There are only a couple cautionary remarks, one of which is involving the discipline of one individual speaking at a time, and I say, with a smile on my face, that I realize that is an almost impossible assignment for you; and, no, we are not interested in others' commentary regarding your report, but would like to hear from you individually, in a soulful way, about your week and your application to the lessons. This will give us a focus, a direction, and it will give you an opportunity to share meaningfully. Would you be amenable to this proposed agenda? (Group agreement) I tell you we have utilized it for months in the Butler group and it has brought forth much fruit. 

Very well. Last week, you will recall, the assignment was to observe your own personality, your human personality, as compared .to your Father-bestowed personality, and I don't know that any of you had an opportunity to conscientiously follow through with that assignment since we did the lesson last week "cart before the horse."

Let me then reassign that assignment for the following week, and this time, having now read twice about the God of personality, and having the transcript at hand to remind you of our discourse regarding personality, you can pay some attention to your own personality and how it functions. Perhaps you can become better acquainted with your own personality. Merium? Would you like to help me out, in this context?

MERIUM: I expected you to call on me later in the evening, after the report.

TOMAS: Shall we then take an intermission and try a preliminary review, if they are ready? I don't know if they are ready.

MERIUM: When you invited them to share, I think that you have reassured them that it would not be on tape, and they will supply themselves with what they have to say. They have in mind what they know they will share. In truth, they are going to share that which is pertinent, that which is waiting to be revealed.

TOMAS: The question then remains, shall we launch today or shall we wait until next week? I think you are saying 'let's go with it today.'

MERIUM: Yes. I would like to hear what they are going to say and not what they are thinking they want to say. I will tell a little story. A wise one, teaching students, approached a student and asked that she would be selected that day to give the talk and she said to the teacher, 'Oh, you should have called on me yesterday! I had a very good subject.' He said, "My dear, you would not have spoken on that subject at all. It was something that your human mind would be involved in. What you will speak in the lesson, you will give from the higher realm."

And I encourage you all, just as Hunnah has to allow herself to stand aside in order to express that which is really important, appropriate, to be revealed, because what you will want to allow yourselves to do is to behold that which is presented to you. It can be out shouted, and under the circumstances, that which you share, that which you reveal, we will be allowed to witness and you will witness within yourself, and it will be a great healing and a great releasing and nurturing for you individually.

TOMAS: Very good. Also, we will get to know each other better. I have only one further guideline, and that has to do with timing, for we have a tendency in this group to spend too much time on socializing, and I hesitate to let you run loose with the lectern. There was once a timepiece in existence at this table. If it is in existence now, it could be helpful. If not, please utilize the same comprehension of time as a timepiece would allow and manifest a consideration for the time constraints of the evening. We will then be in session off the record.

[Intermission]

TOMAS: Greetings, once again. I am Tomas. We have been appreciative of your development in communication here in this format this evening. Thank you one and all for your contributions and for the expressions and exposures of your inner life and your external life as you manifest your way in the world.

You will reflect this week upon what you shared. You will realize that certain things were not necessary to have shared but other things in your deep mind and heart would have been wonderful to share had you thought of it, had you had the courage.

Your communications will develop. Your sharing will gain greater depth. Your communications with each other will lend themselves well to true personality expression and you will benefit and your indwelling Adjusters will benefit. And you will find that your communications will take on a new flavor, a new meaning, a new value, and provide you with new rewards.

This, too, is part of the Correcting Time, that we learn how to communicate in ways which include the spirit, not merely to suit the needs of the material realms but that also fulfil the needs of the soul and the spirit.

I was recalling the character in your culture who is the opera singer, tenor Pavorati, who waves the white handkerchief. When he holds up the handkerchief at the end of an aria, he senses the audience's reaction, he keys himself in to the sensibility of the listeners to see if they appreciated what he had to say, and I tell you I feel as if you were all Pavorati's and I have tuned into you to hear what you have to say, as you sometimes tune into me, and so we begin to sense in each other what it is that we yearn to hear, what it is truly that we are looking for when we seek acknowledgement from each other.

Your expressions, personality expressions, are each an aria of life as you live it in your opera -- in the existential act that accompanies the symphony. This week, be aware of the operatic aspects of life. See the comics, see the melodramatic, the tragic and the romantic. See the emotional aspects of life as it is presented through personality. And add a generous helping of the God of all personality, and see how it is that He shows himself, even through His ignorant children, how loveable they are in spite of themselves.

MERIUM: I would like to encourage each of you to find someone who has been introduced to you in a very negative way, who has been supported in the sense of community in the negative way, and to embrace that individual, to open a door to his or her opportunity to be released of this picturing of him or herself.

Our brother has introduced a higher way to communicate with each other, to appreciate each other, and we all are aware that there are times when we present an attractive scene or profile. Movie stars particularly show a side of their face that is their "best profile." There are people who do not have an opportunity to present their best face to you under some circumstances. I beseech you to extend them the Father's love. Remember who they are. Perhaps you are the first one who will ever have known to do so. Thank you.

TOMAS: Thank you, Merium, and thank you students, dear friends. It is late. I will entertain a couple questions if you have any. Otherwise we will close early this evening. Are there questions?

And so be it. We will be with you this week as you investigate the marvelous realms of personality. Farewell.

Group: Farewell.




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