Creators and Organizers

Do People Treat Others That Commanding Way?

Discourse III

by Kim Michaels
January 28, 2002

Earlier discourses have stated that the church needs to let go of old paradigms and embrace the consciousness of the Age of Aquarius. To make a clean break with the past, is it is necessary that individual church members and the organization as a whole recognize and let go of the state of consciousness that causes people to become rigid. So far, these discourses have touched upon this state of consciousness in terms of a tendency to judge and a tendency to find fault with and reject the messenger, who is disguised as an ant. It is necessary to take a closer look at the rigid state of consciousness.

Although the rigid state of consciousness has numerous effects, the following three are the most visible and dangerous:

• A tendency to treat fellow chelas in a way that simply is not in line with the teachings of the Ascended Masters.
• A tendency to become very attached to certain ideas or certain ways of doing things.
• A tendency to take certain things into the extremes. This is often combined with an unwillingness to see that one is being too extreme and therefore moving away from the golden middle way.

The net result of this state of consciousness is that people become very rigid in their approach to certain aspects of life, the path or church matters. These people close their minds to any viewpoints other than their own, and they tend to have a “My-way-or-the-highway” attitude. They regard any new idea with suspicion, as if they feel threatened by anything suggesting that things might have to change.

The Masters have stated that everyone in physical embodiment has certain elements of the human consciousness. Therefore, everyone has a tendency to hold on to certain ideas. However for most people this does not manifest in the three effects described above. More importantly, most people are generally open to a higher understanding of the issue. It is possible to reason with them.

Unfortunately, some people become so encased by a rigid state of consciousness that they are seemingly beyond all reasoning. Some people become virtually blinded, and they either cannot or will not see the validity of any other viewpoint than their own. No matter how many people try to reason with them, there is seemingly nothing that can be done to move these people towards a broader understanding of certain issues. These people have closed their minds to such an extent that they have literally joined the club of the “Unreachables.”


Why Do People Treat Others That Way?
When rigid people are in a position of leadership, it becomes virtually impossible to move the organization beyond what these people can accept. These people tend to believe that they are always right, and that anyone, who is not in complete agreement with them, is challenging their authority. If such a person is of a lower rank in the organizational hierarchy (or even in the hierarchy these people have established in their minds), they will use aggressive measures to silence or remove that person.

This rigid state of consciousness has led to a condition that has been observed by many people both inside and outside the church. This church has some of the highest spiritual teachings found on this planet, and these teachings contain numerous references to how the Masters expect people to treat each other. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for observers to understand that certain leaders in this organization are treating their fellow chelas in a way that is so obviously out of alignment with the Master’s teachings, or, for that matter, with the Christian ethic and common sense. How can you possibly claim to represent the Ascended Masters if you treat other people in an ungodly manner?

Think back upon the time that you have been involved with this organization, and consider in your heart if you have not personally encountered this state of consciousness? Have you not from time to time wondered why people treat each other in certain ways?
If this question has come to you, then consider why you are aware of this problem. To be able to recognize the truth in the Ascended Masters teachings, it is necessary to have some kind of soul-understanding or soul-memory. Because of this soul-memory, the soul knows how the Ascended Masters treat each other in higher octaves.

When the soul comes in contact with an organization that is giving forth the teachings of the Ascended Masters, then the soul’s memory is reactivated. The soul therefore assumes that in an organization that is based on the Ascended Masters teachings, people will strive to treat one another the same way as the Masters do. Is this not a reasonable assumption? Is this not an assumption that is in line with what the Masters hope will be the case here on earth?

When people observe that the members of this organization do not live up to the teachings, questions arise in their minds. Some people have left the organization upon coming in contact with the state of conscious-ness that is hanging over this organization as a black cloud. In many cases, the rigid leaders have simply reasoned that these people were not “made of the right stuff,” but is that necessarily the case?

Those, who have stayed in the organization, have found ways to deal with, ignore or even justify the rigid state of consciousness. However, should that really be necessary?

For anyone who recognizes this state of consciousness, it might be time to consider if we have not reached a cycle that makes it necessary to once and for all let go of this state of consciousness. Is it not time to look this problem squarely in the eye and say: “Enough is enough?” To cleanse the organization of the rigid mind-set, it is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of this state of consciousness.

Why People Become Rigid
Where does the rigid mind-set come from? One important clue is to realize that one of the most dangerous effects of this state of consciousness is that it causes a soul to close its mind to a new and higher understanding. It causes the soul to be polarized against truth. It causes the soul to see a new and higher understanding as a threat. Therefore, the soul tends to reject the messenger, whether it be the anointed Messenger of the Great White Brotherhood or the messenger disguised as the humblest of ants.

When the soul is confronted with a message that is perceived as a threat, it will look for some aspect of that message or some aspect of the messenger that the soul can label as being “not right.” Then, the soul will use that one thing as an excuse for rejecting the entire message. The most dangerous aspect of the rigid consciousness is that it causes people to close their minds to new ideas or to the need for change. People, who are affected by this state of consciousness, either cannot or will not see that they personally need to change or that the organization needs to change. No matter how many people seek to reason with them, the rigid people will stick to their ideas, and they will defend them as if it were a matter of life or death.


Making Peace with God
What is the cause of this rigid state of consciousness? The cause is that the soul has not made peace with its God. It is very easy to determine if a person is affected by this state of consciousness. If you have made peace with your God, you will be open to new ideas. When a new idea is presented to you, you examine it, and then you refer the idea to your higher self. If your higher self confirms that the idea is true or valid, then you will simply accept the idea, and you will make the necessary adjustments to your world-view and your behavior. You will not feel threatened by the idea, and you will not respond negatively to the messenger who is bringing forth the idea.

If you have not made peace with your God, then you tend to look upon new ideas with suspicion. You feel threatened by new ideas, as if you fear that they might disturb your sense of being in control of your life. If you are reluctant to consider new ideas, if you tend to become defensive when presented with an idea that goes beyond your existing knowledge and beliefs or if you attempt to silence people who present new ideas, then it clearly demonstrates that you have not made peace with your God.

Back to the Garden of Eden
To understand where this rigid consciousness comes from, it is necessary to go back to the Garden of Eden. The Masters have taught that the Garden of Eden was a mystery school and that the God of the Garden was Lord Maitreya who was acting in the role of teacher or Guru. Now, imagine a soul who has disobeyed the command of the Guru and eaten the forbidden fruit. The soul experiences a moment of truth, and it realizes that it has made a mistake. The soul now has two options:

• It can go back to the Guru and confess: “I have disobeyed your commands. I realize that I have sinned, but I want to make things right with you, please help me!” Do you not think that Lord Maitreya would have welcomed the soul with open arms and helped that soul to undo its mistake?
• The soul can make a decision to hide from the Guru. In making this decision, the soul must come up with a line of reasoning that seems to justify hiding from the Guru. The Masters have taught that a soul belongs to one of the 12 tribes of Israel, and that these correspond to the lines of the Cosmic Clock. Therefore, each soul used the perversions of its particular line of the clock to justify the decision to turn away from the Guru.

The biblical account of the Garden of Eden only talks about souls who turned away from the Guru. However, many souls might not have done so, and they might now be members of the Ascended hosts. What happened to the souls that did turn away from the Guru? Because the law of free will is the supreme law of this universe, the Guru cannot confront these souls and seek to make them understand that they can come back. When the soul has turned its back to the Guru, the Guru must leave that soul alone. If a soul refuses to interact with the Guru, there is no longer any point in that soul being in the mystery school. The soul then automatically “falls” into a lower state of consciousness and suddenly finds itself in the physical octave. The soul’s own actions, and the consequences of those actions through the law of karma, will be its teacher.

When the soul realizes that it is no longer in the mystery school, it experiences another moment of truth. At this point, the soul again has the option to turn back to the Guru. However, the souls that did not turn back found themselves in a peculiar situation. To prevent souls from becoming lost, God has created a safety net. No matter how much the soul starts to identify with the physical octave, or seeks to dull its spiritual senses by indulging in the pleasures of this world, the soul cannot completely eradicate its inner memory. Because of this soul-memory, the soul knows that it is mortal.

The soul knows that it must be saved in order to become immortal, and that if it is not saved, it will cease to exist. Because of this knowledge and the soul’s survival instinct, a soul can never be completely at peace in the physical octave. Deep within, there is always something that urges the soul to work out its salvation. If the soul seeks to ignore this inner prompting, it will never find peace, and therefore the soul will be caught in an inner conflict. The question now becomes: how does the soul deal with this inner conflict?

Salvation Without the Guru?
The soul is faced with a dilemma. The only path to salvation goes through the Guru and the lineage of the Great White Brotherhood. To pursue this path, the soul must turn back to the Guru and make peace with God. Unfortunately, some souls refuse to do that, and therefore they cannot resolve their inner conflict. However, if the soul does not realize this, then it seeks to find other ways to resolve the inner conflict. In other words, the soul will seek to find a way to work out its salvation without turning back to the Guru.

When the soul decides that it will not turn back to the Guru, it must create a new world view that seemingly justifies this decision. The soul then creates a personal belief system that makes it seem like the soul can work out its salvation through outer means. In its attempt to create this belief system, the soul often turns to religion.

Religion is meant to be a guideline that will help the soul work out its salvation. However, no religion can guarantee a soul’s salvation. When you consider the law of free will, it becomes easy to see why. Although the salvation of a soul has certain almost mechanical aspects, such as the balancing of karma, the essence of a soul’s salvation is a free-will decision. To be saved, as soul must make the decision to turn back to the Guru and make peace with God. If the soul refuses to do so, then religion can easily become a blind-alley. The soul can actually use religion to justify its beliefs that it can work out its salvation through outer means. Most of the world’s religions seem to make the promise that if only you believe in the doctrines of that religion and follow the outer rituals prescribed by that religion, then you will automatically be saved. This is, of course, an illusion created by dark forces for the specific purpose of leading souls astray.

No Automatic Salvation
In every religion, you will find people who (from an outer viewpoint) seem to be very devout followers of that religion. However, if you look deeper, you will notice that these people have bought into the illusion that there is an outer path to salvation. When people become the victims of this illusion, they automatically become very rigid in their approach to life and religion. Such people are not open to new ideas; they simply want to keep believing and doing the same thing for the rest of their lives. They often want other people to do and believe the same thing, and they also want their religious organization to remain the same (to confirm that their beliefs are right). In reality, these people have attempted to strike a deal with God. In their minds they have reasoned that if only they believe and do certain things, then God simply has to save them. Again, there is no such thing as an automatic salvation.

Justifying the Illusion
The reason why people, who believe in this illusion, become so rigid is that their souls know they are living a lie. To maintain the illusion, the person must seek to avoid coming in contact with any idea that might question or shatter the illusion. Therefore, the soul tends to close its mind to any ideas that go beyond its existing knowledge and beliefs. When such a soul is driven into a corner, and can no longer ignore a new idea, the soul will often take aggressive means to refute the idea or discredit the messenger who is presenting the idea. People will often go to great length to accomplish this goal. Such people will often use very intricate arguments to defend their existing beliefs. In many cases, these arguments are not rational or logical, and they simply don’t make sense. However, it is virtually impossible to make people realize this.

Why do some people become so aggressive in their attempts to defend their beliefs? When the soul made the decision to turn away from the Guru, it had to create a set of beliefs that seemed to justify that decision. It was this process that created the dweller-on-the-threshold. The dweller has no life of its own; it can only exist as long as the soul believes in the illusion that created the dweller. Therefore, maintaining that illusion is literally a life-and-death issue for the dweller. The more a soul identifies with the dweller, the more it will allow the dweller to aggressively defend the illusion. That is why some people will go to the extremes to silence those who are questioning their beliefs.

The Need for Power and Control
One of the effects of this process is that some people develop a very strong need to be in control of their situation. In their struggle to maintain their personal illusion, these people often seek to control everything around them, and this includes other people. Therefore, these people can become very skilled in the dark art of manipulating others. They reason that if no one disagrees with them, they must be right.

Another aspect of this process is the quest for power. In reality, the quest for power springs from the need to maintain the soul’s self-created illusion. The soul reasons that if it can attain enough power, it can control others and prevent them from challenging any of its beliefs. Therefore, if the soul has absolute power, it can maintain its illusion forever-or so it thinks. And a religious organization gives such souls an opportunity to position themselves in a position of absolute power.
In reality, the soul is pursuing an impossible quest, but until it realizes this, it will keep doing its thing. That is why people will keep repeating the same arguments until they sound like a broken record. What can you do to bring the church to a higher level?

It is not the intent of these discourses to say that all church leaders are victims of this rigid state of consciousness. In fact, it is not the intent to point the finger at any particular individual. It is, however, necessary to point out that the church is very much affected by this rigid state of consciousness. Until the organization rises above this state of consciousness, it cannot even begin its true mission in the Age of Aquarius.

If you recognize that the church is affected by this state of consciousness, and if you have a desire to help the organization rise above it, what can you do? The following are only meant as suggestions, and you should use your personal discernment to determine what might be the right course of action for you. You can take action on three levels:

• Make peace with your God
• Use the spiritual tools given by the Masters
• Speak out

Making Peace with Your God
If you recognize that some people are in a rigid state of consciousness, what can you possibly do to make them change? It is important to realize, that there might be nothing you or anyone else can do. It is also important to accept this fact and to fully accept the law of free will. In contemplating this, consider the idea that God has not made you responsible for these people’s salvation. Therefore, you must not allow yourself to fall into the trap of becoming attached to what other people believe or do.

God has only made you responsible for your own salvation. Where does that lead you? You can do two things:

• Examine yourself and seek to find any point in your psychology where you have not made peace with God, the outer Guru (Lord Maitreya) or the inner Guru (your Holy Christ self and I AM Presence).
• Then, make an effort to resolve this conflict. By using the teachings, especially the teachings on the Cosmic Clock, it is not that difficult to find out what made you decide to turn away from the Guru. Giving a novena to the Great Divine Director or Cyclopea can be an immense help, and so can various forms of therapy.

By seeking to overcome your own inner conflict, you do three things:

1. You remove the blocks to your own salvation, and you can make tremendous progress on the path. Thereby, you can attain inner peace and personal happiness.
2. You make it impossible for the rigid people to control you. When a soul has spent many lifetimes defending a particular illusion, it has acquired great skill in the art of manipulating the truth. Therefore, the soul is also good at manipulating others. However, people can only control you through the weaknesses in your own psychology, and if you resolve those weaknesses, these people will have no power over you.
3. By raising your personal consciousness, you will make a strong contribution towards raising the consciousness of the entire organization. If a critical mass of church members will make an effort to go through this process, the entire organization can be raised to a new level. Those, who refuse to come up higher, will gradually be spun off by the new momentum of the organization. By raising the consciousness of the organization, a magnet will be formed that will attract better leaders. The leaders of any organization simply reflect the conscious-ness of the members of that organization. Therefore, the first step towards attracting better leadership is to raise the consciousness of the members.

Use the Spiritual Tools
The Masters have given us many spiritual tools for dealing with the challenges faced by both individuals and an organization. If you want to help the organization rise to a higher level, apply these tools as you see fit.

Speak Out and Demand Positive Change. If you believe that changes are needed in this organization, and if you see things that you believe are not right, make your voice heard. Speak out through whatever means are available to you. If all members of this organization go into a passive state of consciousness and wait for someone else to speak out, then it is easy to see who will end up controlling the destiny of the organization. This can literally become a sin of omission.

When speaking out against injustice, consider if it is necessary to mention names. If you have been mistreated by someone in a leadership position, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that that person should be removed from the organization. However, the Ascended Masters would like to save every soul on earth. They do not want to see people removed from the organization; they want to see people rise to a higher level of consciousness. If you speak out against a person, then that person might go into a defensive state of mind and therefore refuse to see the need to come up higher. If you speak out against an act, without tying that act to a specific person, then it might be easier for people to rise above certain actions and the consciousness that leads to those actions.

The Importance of Forgiveness. If the church is to become successful in the Age of Aquarius, the organization must become a true spiritual community. True community cannot be built if people treat each other as adversaries or enemies. Community can only be built if people respect each other’s differences and make a sincere effort to prevent personal differences from leading to conflict. In this respect, forgiveness is a necessary key.
In the world at large, forgiveness is a very misunderstood quality. Most people think that if someone has harmed you, you are doing them a favor by for giving them. The assumption is that if someone has harmed you, they should be made to pay, and by forgiving them you let them off the hook.

This is not true. A person, who harms you, will reap the karma of that situation no matter what you do in the situation. However, if you do not forgive that person, but instead allow yourself to slip into and negative state of consciousness, then you will also make karma in the situation. Thereby, you create a karmic tie to the person who has harmed you, and why would you want to do that? You want to move on and leave that person behind! By forgiving the other person, you avoid making karma, and therefore you are, in reality, letting yourself off the hook. It is important to understand that when you forgive others, you are not doing them a favor; you are doing yourself a favor. Forgiveness is simply enlightened self-interest. If you can forgive others, you can speak out in a way that is more likely to produce results. You can do right action and remain non-attached to the fruits of action.

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