[This session was preceded by a period of tuning and meditation.]

Aaron and I are discussing which of us is going to lead this session. Aaron is suggesting he led the tuning last night. He would like me to share with you directly the process that I use, which is not with a guided meditation from him. It precedes opening my energy to him. As Carla pointed out this morning, this is simply my own process which I’m sharing with you. I’m not suggesting that you need to use it, just this is how I’ve learned to work with Aaron.

The first thing I do is to focus on my breath, simply settle my attention. This is not a matter of creating stillness. Sometimes there’s stillness. Sometimes there’s occurrence. Meditation is not to be mistaken for stillness, but for deep awareness and being in the moment with whatever arises in that moment—stillness or occurrence; simply coming to attention and choiceless awareness, coming to a place of center, where, if there’s stillness, there is no grasping at that stillness. If there’s turmoil and busy mind—thoughts arising, emotions arising—there’s no aversion to that. It is coming to a deeper place in myself where I can watch all of this and move past. That place is still, a still point uninvolved in any outer stillness or occurrence. So, that’s the first step for me. I’m going to be quiet now for a moment while I work with this and let you work with it, just focusing on the breath as we did in the meditations early this morning before breakfast.

When I’m in that space, the boundaries of self come down and I feel myself surrounded by energy, by spirit. At this point (usually not with words so much as wordlessly, but obviously to share it I need to use words), I offer a commitment of my energy, a statement of intention of my desire to be of service. If I notice any self-thought, of pride in that “being somebody doing something,” I just notice that’s part of it, that’s the part of it that grows out of fear; and I don’t condemn that in myself but I also don’t build that up in myself. I ask for help in channeling clearly despite that human fear that is part of my make-up because I am human. I recognize that it is not a big part of my motivation. I don’t focus on the negative in my motivation, on the fearful in my motivation. I focus on the loving and openhearted in my motivation.

So, I simply state clearly my intention. I want to offer my energy in the service of all beings. I want to offer my energy for the alleviation of suffering. Please use this energy in whatever way is most appropriate. I then state the continuing intention that I offer myself as an instrument through which spirit may speak. And I speak to whatever array of energy I feel out there, making the firm statement, “I will not allow anything to speak through me and use my voice which is non-harmonious to my own deepest values. I welcome any being that wants to be present to hear me, but it may not speak through me unless our values agree.”

At this point I usually begin to feel Aaron’s energy very strongly. I recognize it as Aaron’s energy. When I’m simply talking to Aaron myself, we have a code that we use for a challenge. So, I abbreviate the challenge to that energy that asks it to identify itself. When I’m channeling with a group, I go through the full challenge to that energy.

At first I couldn’t understand the reason for this because I said, “I know Aaron’s energy,” but then I became aware that a being that was negatively polarized to just the same degree that Aaron is positively polarized could feel very much like Aaron, the same wavelength of negative polarity that Aaron is positive polarity. Carla said to me a few times, “Challenge, challenge!” And I said, “I don’t need to.” And then once I experienced negative energy that felt like Aaron’s, so I started to understand the wisdom of Carla’s advice.

So, I offer a formal challenge to it; this, for me, being what I most firmly believe in. Each of us, in opening ourselves to spirit guidance, needs to use our own highest values and to challenge the energy—not only that which would formally speak through us in channeling, but that guidance from our own guides that we listen to—to challenge it by our own deepest values.

What I ask for myself is three challenges. First, “Are you that energy that I have come to know as Aaron, that identical energy?” I get a “yes” on that. “Do you come in service to the principle of love and service to all beings?” And finally I ask it, “Do you come as a disciple of Jesus Christ and the Buddha?” If I’m not channeling to a big group, I simply say three times, “Aaron?” and get a “yes” three times, so I don’t always go through that procedure formally.

So, now I’m going to be quiet for a few moments while I work with this process of tuning that I use. I would ask you each to move through much the same process at your own pace, stating your intention that what you receive be of service to all beings and that as you lower your own boundaries and open yourselves to spirit you also challenge that spirit by your own highest values, which becomes a firm commitment of your own adherence to those values. A few minutes of silence now, and then we’ll begin.

[Pause]

I am Aaron. I call you angels in earthsuits. Your angelness is undeniable. This is who you truly are. With your incarnation, you have bound yourselves into these earthsuits, pulled closed the visor in the front which prevents clear seeing. Think of it as a coat of armor you have put on. Body armor would hamper the free movement of your limbs. And yet, in the society in which armor was necessary because of jousting and other such combat, the armor was both a burden and a tool, a necessary tool. Your earthsuits might by some be viewed as burden, but they are necessary to your learning. This earth is your schoolroom. And your body and emotions are the embodiments of the lessons you have come to learn, the tool through which you can learn.

The angel lives only in ultimate reality. It knows itself clearly for who it is. The being enclosed by the earthsuit can become so caught up in the tightness of that suit that it becomes its only reality. It forgets what it is like to live outside the suit.

My dear ones, here is where it gets tricky. What your incarnation asks of you is that you find the balance of both, fully expressing the angelness while in no way discarding or belittling the value of the earthsuit, paying attention to the earthsuit while aware that it is merely a covering that you put on—not owning it, but living it fully.

You are like actors in a play. When you come out onto the stage, if you look to the audience and say, “Oh, this is only a play. It doesn’t matter,” the audience is not going to get much from your lines offered with no sincerity. If you become so involved in the illusion of the play that you forget that it is a play, forget that there is an audience out there, you may turn your back to the audience or speak too softly for them to hear. The good actor must live its lines convincingly—live them, be them—while being fully aware simultaneously that this is a play, that when it walks offstage it no longer is the identity of that character. This is how the audience learns from a play. And you also are the audience, both actor and audience.

This is what your life asks of you: to live the illusion as full-heartedly as you can while still knowing this is illusion. Herein is the intersection of relative and ultimate reality, the intersection of the cross. You have one foot in relative reality, one foot in ultimate reality, and there is no separation between them. Some of you have understood that you have one foot on each side of this threshold, but you feel as if there were a wall, an infinite wall, dividing relative and ultimate reality so that you may only experience one at a time. It is very hard work to learn to blend them, to bring compassion and wisdom together. But that is what you are here to learn to do.

When we ask, “What is the spiritual path and how do we live it?” the spiritual path, for me, is one of awareness of the non-dual nature of relative and ultimate reality and compassion for the being who sometimes stumbles while trying to bring them together harmoniously; love and respect for these beings who keep brushing off the mud and moving on again, always learning a bit more about this balance and always learning a bit more about the desire to rest on one side or the other side of the balance; seeing the resistance to bringing them together because that requires such deep honesty and courage; and finding compassion for the being who cannot quite do it, but tries.

There is one very beautiful song from the play, Man of La Mancha. 1 I will not ask Barbara to sing it, as her voice is inadequate to the task. But one verse is the words, “To bear with unbearable sorrows, to go where the brave dare not go, to be willing to give when there’s no more to give, to be willing to die so that honor and justice may live. And I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest.” 2 This is your path, a path of exquisite beauty. Honor yourselves for the humans you are, for the quest that you have undertaken and the extreme difficulty of it, and for the light not only at the end of the road, but the light that you emit with each step on this path.

I would like to change tracks now and move from the theoretical to the practical. Fine. We are looking for this balance of ultimate and relative reality, this balance of love and wisdom. How do we follow that quest in dealing with the very real and painful catalysts of our lives? I feel Q’uo wishing to speak. I do not know if Q’uo wishes to speak in answer to the question I have just raised, or wishes to add more that relates to the beginning of my afternoon talk here. I will simply pass the microphone to Q’uo for my brother/sister/friend to speak, and then we will move back to my own talk of the practical. That is all.

[As a complement to Barbara’s description of her tuning process, Carla’s own process is provided.]

I begin in solitude by singing a hymn and continue with prayers, praying the prayer of Saint Francis and beseeching the Holy Spirit’s presence. I invoke the archangels and all those whom they represent, who come from the world of spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, and ask them to help in maintaining the purity and safety of the circle and the contact. I then go through the process of looking into, and balancing, my chakra system of energies; and after balancing, I open up the energy system for potential channeling. Then I join the group, and continue tuning with the group. Before opening to a specific contact, I challenge the perceived contact in the name of Jesus Christ and ask that it say that Jesus is Lord. I repeat this challenge three times. If all three challenges are met, I open to channel.

[Pause]

We are those of Q’uo, and greet each in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. Greetings, blessings, love and peace. My fellow teacher Aaron kindly shares these teachings with us, and we stand humbly before this generosity.

Indeed, we wished to speak to the matter of how to conceive, if you will pardon the pun, of your physical, material selves being in the same physical vehicle with the infinite and eternal life form which you are. For you know that you are not your body, but were before the world had been and shall be long after it has been taken back into the unmanifest and unknown, which is infinite Intelligence that is the one great original Thought, which we label with the weak word Love, having no choice.

This instrument earlier this day spied an acorn, and picking it up, found half of it to fall away. The little pointed top fit nicely on the finger like a cap for a finger puppet. Consider the seed within this acorn’s husk and the stature of its eventual manifestation. Can this tiny acorn conceive of holding such a seed? And each of you in your physical vehicles—fields after fields of energy held in articulated manifestation—to move as vehicles do through time and space, delivering the precious load of consciousness that it may be buffeted by all manner of catalyst?

Within each of you is being born (as you choose to walk this spiritual path) the physical vehicle, if you will, of light that you shall grow to be. But now, within incarnation, this physical form of light is tiny, incredibly vulnerable and protected only by your sense of its being as you go about your everyday affairs. Each choice that you make strengthens this infant consciousness. Each of you is like Mary, mother to Jesus, in that you are birthing your spiritual self, and you shall carry this within you all your days within this incarnation. Each hurt, each abruptness which shocks, each sorrow, each feeling of solitude and longing for a more native country, causes this infant child within to cry, and you may stand confused.

How can you nurture this inner child of light? Each of you can, in every moment, imagine, dream and intend this nurturing; and with the energy of this intention, you touch that tiny light-being with the Mother’s and Father’s love, seeing you are not alone, “for I have touched Love.” And all that you feel and care and reach for exists in abundance, abundance that shall wash over your sweet beingness. “Here, feel my love.” And because you, in all your dirt and confusion, have intended and dreamt and imagined this love, this abundance—this becomes truth; and the nurturing of infinite Intelligence continues as the great work that rose beyond all of the seemingly independent sparks of consciousness and, in the end, feeds not only that spiritual self within but the more conscious everyday self that may feel so poorly equipped to nurture and love spiritually.

Your secret weapon always is the parents’ eternal secret: simple, honest love. Love that questing spirit within and you nourish that which shall carry you into eternity.

We thank our brother Aaron for sensing this teaching impulse which came to us, and hand the microphone back to his teachings with our love. Greetings, my brother. How wonderful it is to be here with you in manifestation through these lovely children.

I want to move into some of the specific questions that we so often hear, the main one being, “How do I know when I’m following a path of love or a path of fear?” If you only had one motivation, it would be easy to know. What confuses you is the multiple motivations. In the giving of that apple, 95% of the motivation was pure generosity—no ulterior motives, no desire to be savior to one another, no desire to be somebody who gives, just openhearted compassion to the suffering of another and a clear, heartfelt response. But 5% of the motivation or 7% or 3% or 10%, it doesn’t matter, was the voice of fear—either the voice of fear that says, “What if I need it?” and then judges that fearful statement and says, “No, I should give,” compounding the judgment, or the fear that wants to be somebody “good.”

The difficulty, then, is sorting out these voices in yourself and learning to trust the sincerity of the loving motivation and not get into a dialogue with the negative part of the motivation, but simply acknowledge that it is there. If you deny it, then it becomes empowered. If you acknowledge it and smile to it and turn back to the positive part of the motivation, you deny power to your fear. I call this not getting into a dialogue with fear.

You begin, through attention, to see how that arising fear ensnares you and draws your attention away from the angelness of you. There are some very specific steps to working here. First is to know that in every human situation there is going to be multiple motivation. Like the ivory soap ad, it may be 99 and 99/100% pure, but it is not 100% pure. Your fear is not a burden given you for combat. It is the fertile soil upon which you may build compassion. It is the garbage that you turn into compost.

So, first there must be acknowledgment that there is multiple motivation. When you are faced with a choice, you look at what grows out of a loving and connected place and what grows out of fear. And second, while acknowledging the fear, you refuse to get caught in the story of it. This takes practice. You are never going to do it perfectly and that is okay. But with practice, the skill grows: “I know this is fear and I don’t have to get sucked into it.” The more you practice with this, the more you trust the impulses of your heart.

What happens when those impulses seem to lead you into pain? I want to tell the story of a friend here, while changing the facts sufficiently so as to render this being unrecognizable, although it is not someone who most of you know or perhaps who any of you know. We have here a friend who was in a marriage which had its ups and downs, as many marriages do. This was a second marriage for both partners. I’m going to refer to them as partners A and B so as to avoid any designation of the sex of either being.

There was both love and pain between A and B. B suggested to A that since B was living in the house A had previously owned before their partnership, it felt excluded because it now contributed to that home. It suggested changing the mortgage, changing the bank accounts, whatever. It does not matter what they would change, but changing it so as to share more equitably. A agreed to that with some hesitation, but A sincerely felt, “If I want to live my life in love and trust with this being, the first step is to trust it.” So, A offered to B half of its possessions, let us say.

After the papers were signed, B turned around, not immediately but soon after, and betrayed A. It doesn’t matter how. But there was real betrayal, which led to filing for divorce, leaving A feeling not only heartbroken by the betrayal of B but also in a drastic financial situation. A said, “What did I do wrong? I followed my heart. I trusted and all it led me to is betrayal.” A very painful story.

Let us look at what really might have been happening here. My follow-up here is hypothetical. The personal reasons why this happened are not something you need to know. There are many possibilities and I would simply like to explore them with you on a hypothetical basis.

Why do seemingly bad things happen to people who are trying to follow the dictates of love? That is the question. First of all, yes, this is a very painful situation, very frightening to A, who would now be both alone and having lost much of its support of its money. Is that bad? What do bad and good mean? Painful, yes, but there is going to be pain in your lives. Is pain always bad? Is it ever completely avoidable? You have heard me say that pain shouts at you, “Pay attention!” Now, A thought it was paying attention, but perhaps it needs to pay closer attention. When one pays attention, one’s learning is still not always pain-free. There is no guarantee of that. The question then becomes, “Can I take this devastation that’s been handed to me and make some useful learning of it, rather than having it send me into deep bitterness?” Perhaps that is part of what the whole issue was about. I repeat that these are hypothetical answers, all of them possibly real, but we have stepped away from the actuality of A and B’s situation here.

It is highly possible that A is being offered the opportunity to let go of having to make things happen a certain way, being offered the opportunity to trust not only the “good” but also the “bad” in its life. It is very hard when one must go through that, but if one lets go of trying to make it come out a certain way and relaxes into what is, then one can find love and healing even in the midst of pain.

Part of this might also be karmic. Perhaps very specifically in a past life, A had taken from B. This is only one of the ways karma works. It would not even have to be from B that A took. Perhaps A did not take physically from B, but only could not share. You say it seems like a very backwards way to learn sharing, to be punished for sharing, but perhaps A needs to take sharing beyond reward and punishment, to move to a place where sharing is not for reward, but only to share. Perhaps the past misunderstanding was that A held on to sharing for its rewards, and if it could not see possible rewards, it was reluctant to share. So, perhaps that is part of the karma.

I am reminded here of a story of a Zen priest. This is said to be a true story that happened in Asia sometime in the last twenty or thirty years. The police came to this being and said, “You have been accused of this wrongdoing. Come with us.” And they took the priest to jail. They asked, “Can you prove your innocence? Where were you that night when this deed occurred?” And the priest said, “I was alone. I have no witness.” The priest did not fight the accusation nor did it agree with it. At first it said, “I am innocent,” but it did not fight. So, that priest went to jail, was imprisoned and penalized to serve with hard labor. Six years later another prisoner, who was dying, confessed to that crime. They came to the priest and they said, “You are innocent. Someone else has confessed. Why did you not stick to your innocence which you proclaimed at first?” The priest said, “Because when I meditated that first night in jail, I saw that I had done this crime in a past life and I had gotten away with it, and another had been put to death for my crime. Now I have paid in my own way and I am free. I have lived these six years in prison with much love, serving my fellow prisoners. I am free.”

So, karma does enter into it. It is hard to understand that. You are not given the ability to clearly see your past lives. There must sometimes be much faith that even when life hands you difficult circumstances, you still can trust.

Another possibility between our A and B: Through A’s ability to suffer this betrayal at the hands of B without moving into hatred of B, to allow B to feel his forgiveness, he is offering a very real service to B—opening a door. A may make it very clear, “What you did is totally inappropriate and I am very, very angry and hurt; nevertheless, I do not hate you.”

To say no can be done with love. It does not have to be done with hate. Perhaps both A and B needed to learn these lessons, B being served by A’s ability to work with this painful catalyst lovingly so that B might also learn and grow beyond its self-centeredness and fear.

Finally, A may be offered the opportunity to look at the multiple motivations in itself, that it shared its fortunes with B with a high degree of love and desire, aspiration to strengthen their relationship, but that there was also perhaps denial of any sense, “This being is not trustworthy”—denial of the fear in itself of letting go of a relationship with a non-trustworthy B.

So, one part of it is A’s reluctance to be honest with itself about the realities in its situation, it is clinging to what love was offered rather than having the faith to say no. This is a hard one. So many of you have a hard time saying no with love. You aspire to be “spiritual,” to be good and kind and loving, but sometimes you interpret that kindness to mean being a doormat to others. When you offer yourself as doormat, you are going to be walked on. Then rage builds in you and you erupt. And then you say, “Oh, I’m bad for having erupted,” and you go back to doormat once again. But there is a place in between, when you have self-respect through faith in who you really are and in the loving-kindness of your heart, even while knowing that this is only part of what is there, that there is also fear and anger, jealousy and greed. But when you have faith in that segment of your heart that is loving and respect that in yourself, then you find respect for that which is loving in another. When you have compassionate non-judgment for that in yourself which is less than loving, you find compassionate non-judgment for that in others When you learn to say no kindly to yourself when the impulse is grounded in fear, then you learn to recognize that fearful impulse in others and say no to it with the same kindness. Living with non-harm to others does not mean never saying no; quite the contrary. It can be very harmful to another to allow them to use you as a doormat.

You must get this straightened out in yourselves by paying close attention to the multiple reasons for your choices, starting to see those motivations that are prompted by love and what part of it is prompted by fear, not hating yourself for the fear, but not being drawn into dialogue with that fear. This is what leads you not to be drawn into dialogue with another’s fear, but to say no and to trust, “This is the least harmful thing I can do.” Harming another by ownership is still harm. If you allow another to step on you, and hold your tongue, even if you are not hating them for doing that, you’re still harming them. It is a very fine line.

A related question, one of choice of work is, “How do I know whether to stay with my present job, which is sometimes very painful to me, or when to move on to a new job? Am I copping out or am I being guided by love?” One might ask the same question in a rocky relationship. “How do I know when to stay with it? How do I know when to withdraw?” The same answer, my friends: When you start to allow yourself to experience the multiple motivations without needing to cling to being the “good” one nor to deny nor hate yourself for the places of fear, then you allow yourself to move into a deeper place of knowing in your heart, which very honestly weighs the balance and knows this choice is primarily motivated by love or by fear. It is never going to be clear-cut, which takes me one step further.

Please understand that there are only more or less skillful, more or less painful or joyful decisions. There is never a right or wrong decision. If you stay with the job or relationship and pain increases, you always have the right to leave. You ask yourself, “Am I still learning here or has the pain increased to the point where there’s so much contraction of my energy that I can’t learn?” If that is so, you forgive yourself for that humanness that creates that contraction and you let go of that work or relationship with the intention to look deeply at the places of fear when you are no longer so deeply stuck in it, and understand it, so you will not need to repeat it. If there is not that much contraction and pain and there is still much love and much joy in the work, and if you feel yourself learning in those situations, then you go on. There is no right or wrong.

There is much more that could be said about these questions which I would like to get into, but rather than working with hypothetical situations, we would like to hear your questions. I also sense that Q’uo may wish to speak before you get into your questions. What we will do here is pause for a brief break, come back and allow Q’uo to speak, if that is desired, or open to your questions. That is all.

[The session was paused for group meditation and tuning through story and song.]

We are those of Q’uo. Greetings once again in love and light.

We are happy to report that not only have Aaron and we spoken concerning the remainder of this session of working, but our instruments have also made their peace with our preferences, so all is well in hand. And this delights the one know as Carla, who enjoys arrangements.

We have looked at the walking of the spiritual path and seen that it is based upon the awareness that within the form which walks upon the surface of this sphere and dies and is no more, there exists a self which does not go down into the dust or in any way become corrupted, but which is infinite and eternal and unknowable, as the mystery of love shall always remain unknowable.

We have acknowledged that the beginning of this path may usefully be seen to be the first conscious choice of how to walk that path. Each here who hears our voice has committed the self to a pilgrimage of service to others on behalf of the one infinite Creator. We also have chosen this path, and this is why we have been called to your group at this time/space. We have suggested that beyond all questions of human motive, which keep intellects busy attempting to discern right, there is the actual center of this quest in the very body which is corrupt; for the consciousness which is Christ Consciousness, which is Buddha Body, dwells with a faithfulness that shall not cease, short of death.

In the midst of the physical vehicle which you know as your own body, no matter how its condition seems, it carries Christ within it. And this being, within which is your deeper Self, depends upon you to hope and dream and strive in faith amidst all difficulties and conditions whatsoever, to affirm this Self within, to proudly bear all the perceived errors of self as scars of a warrior who strives peacefully towards that inner Eden in which all physicality and confusion pass away. And the Christ within, well-launched from infanthood, may finally begin another voyage, another pilgrimage, in a lighter body within which this consciousness grows and has a larger weight compared to the physical body. You see, in all of your attempts to live, whatever you may think of them, they have been your best. How can any offer more than this?

Now then, we encourage each to feel the feet planted upon the path of pilgrimage. Yes, there are times when you may sit and drink in such beauty, whether it be of the eye or the heart, that you feel nourished and lovely and loving and well-equipped to do the walking towards the greater light. Yet, so much of any pilgrimage takes place when conditions do not seem favorable. And in these dry and desert times, it is central to pilgrimage that within your own processes of reasoning and consideration, you remember who you are, where you wish to go and how much you feel connected to this quixotic quest. It is when you are alone, without friends to encourage or understand, that the spirit within most needs your ragged, jagged faith—any scrap, any off-key rendition of the blues that still may praise the Creator within. Pilgrimages are difficult. But you would not find yourself upon this path if you did not hunger for that which gives meaning to difficulty. You wish to be wide awake and feel every stone, eat every mouthful of dust and sit at the end of any hopeless, empty day, rejoicing and giving thanks that you have been present at this miraculous disaster.

Of course, we can most well comfort each in these protected circumstances using channels such as this one and using the energy of each who seeks so that each helps each. But the testing and trying which tempers and encourages the growth of that spirit within is greatly fed by these difficult, desert moments or hours or days or, this instrument reminds us, years.

Sometimes, yes, each shall have losses, limitations and every discouragement. Indeed, each faces physical annihilation. One day this body shall be dust. None of this appeals or is easy to ponder, yet each of you shall walk along this path with the truth receding infinitely before you, never reached, always beckoning. And each day shall be new. Each situation, no matter how time-worn by repetition, shall be new if you choose to be fully the pilgrim. For you who wish to walk this path, wish nothing short of transformation. And one who successfully transforms oneself has virtually healed at least some portions of an older self, so that the new within has the opportunity and room to bud and flower and bloom in its turn, within.

The question, “How can one walk a spiritual path or have a spiritual vocation when one must labor at worldly concerns in order to provide food and shelter?” becomes less puzzling if you assign the value to labor that you assign to meditation, contemplation and all the good practices of the spiritual vocation.

We suggest to each that the spiritual vocation is to find love in the moment, every moment; and this makes no distinction between the worldly labor and the strictly spiritual practice. When an entity can gaze at the crowded day and see joy in the doing and Christ Consciousness in the very warp and woof of all labor, then a world opens up before that entity which is entirely drenched and marinated in Christ Consciousness.

This instrument has read the story of the nun who was asked how she could bear to wash the filthy, maggot-filled sores of infant children in your India which were soon to die, the odor and the look of putrefaction being so dreadful. The nun reportedly looked up at the questioner and said, “Oh, but this is the face of Jesus Christ. If I thought this was an Indian child, I could never do it.”

My brothers and sisters, each of you is as this one. And no matter to what purpose you lend your hand, you touch Christ Consciousness. Do you doubt that there is this consciousness in one who does the taxes, goes to the grocery and attempts to park the car in a crowded lot with others jockeying for your place? If you do doubt, then praise and give thanksgiving to the one infinite Creator and go on anyway.

We shall speak to ways in which the spiritual vision may be tuned so as to be more fruitful in throwing out for your use tools and resources with which to meet Christ in the parking lot. But for now, we and those of Aaron, in the course of questioning, would like to address specific requests from you. We would open with the first query. Does any wish to question at this time?

I’ve noticed in an experience that I had, and I’ve had it here today in listening to Q’uo, that as I get closer to God Consciousness I always feel a welling up of tears. I’m wondering why that is. They don’t feel like bad tears.

I am Q’uo, and we agree that these are not bad tears. You have the sensibility to weep at the beauty, my brother. This beauty is called forth within you by words which you recognize, yet the beauty which brings your tears was within you all the time. Is there a further query, my brother?

No. Thank you.

Is there another question?

You indicated that all jobs are good. Aren’t there jobs that are not so good, that are selfish and destructive rather than constructive, like developing atomic bombs or something?

The query about good and evil occupations assumes that one accepts good and evil occupations, yet we would suggest that each entity which strives to polarize towards service to others has the tendency to select a job for pay which is either helpful or not harmful. However, were a scientist put in the position of developing the atomic bomb, yet still this entity could invest every hope for positive use that it had, and with sadness accept such a development as a job. Given the circumstances in which the atomic bomb was developed, the intention of those who developed this was sad but firm commitment to stopping a war which was engulfing your sphere.

The worldly is seldom pure in its habiliments or circumstances. Good and evil are so plaited up and interwoven in the tapestry of living that it is almost impossible to do that which yields all positive and no negative. Those who have been given gifts must attempt to offer them with the very best of intention. And if there seems to develop negativity therefrom, then that pain and sorrow, too, must be taken into that place where forgiveness reigns, healing is real and the light does not waver. That place lies within each. It is a place as clear in location as Cleveland. You may not know its position within the body, but its position within your beingness is specific. It is your heart. And in that place there is no right and no wrong, but only love. Beyond all that occurs, all that dies, there is love A sorry race it is that each may run in terms of the outer appearances, yet each time that spirit within throws that metaphysical hand up and says, “Praise, love anyway. We’ll work this out eventually, but now, praise and thanks that we are here to witness to love,” that place is re-entered and the healing waters flow.

Does this answer the query, or is there a further query?

[Pause]

One final query, if there be one, then we would wish to transfer the podium, shall we say, to the one known as Aaron. Is there a final query to us at this time?

I have a question. Is there any dharmic practice or service that you would recommend that would enhance, perhaps speed up, but at least keep one pointed on the path toward getting to this place in the heart?

Yes, my brother, there is. For each it is somewhat different. But perhaps you can see the slant when we say to you that the teacher known as Jesus, in attempting to describe its nature, said that it thanked entities who had fed it and clothed it and so forth. And when the confusion arose because entities had not fed Jesus, it explained, “Insofar as you have fed or clothed the least of these, you have fed and clothed me.” 3

There are entities starving. There are entities who are naked. There is always some soup to fix and hand to those who have no home. And for those who cannot achieve a sense of this healing place within by working upon the horizontal plane, there are those commitments of the spirit to pray and intercede and assist the consciousness of the planet upon which you dwell. For those who abide in love and thanksgiving, thinking prayerfully of the planet or the cause of peace, or any beau geste, any windmill which you may till at, the doing of this regularly, day after day, week upon week—this for those who do not see love in soup—shall furnish the love; for this, too, is food, a kind of food you might call manna or bread of heaven.

If you cook, offer soup. If you pray, offer prayers. And if you do neither, sit down in one place and give thanks and praise and then be quiet and feel the doors of the heart open. We do not suggest that this is easily accomplished, but only suggest that sometime in the rhythm of your own energies will be the time when all the waiting is over and you have that divine moment when Christ Consciousness thrills up your spine and through your very being; and for that instant, all is quite, quite clear. Ever after this first experience of the open heart, you then have this subjective memory which can shine within you, like the candle lit against all darkness, until your next moment within the open, full heart.

May we answer further, my brother?

No. Thank you.

We thank you, my brother, and all here present. And we shall most happily speak with you again, but for now we would yield the floor in case any has queries which it wishes the one known as Aaron to answer. For now, we leave you in all that there is: the love that created everything and the light out of which all is created. We are those of Q’uo. Adonai.

Aaron wants to speak for a few minutes before he opens the floor to questions.

I am Aaron. I wish to briefly expand on a few things about which Q’uo spoke. First, before the floor was opened to your queries, my brother/sister spoke about living a life in faith. I want to pick up on this idea of faith.

One of the primary learnings of third density is faith. Sometimes your life hands you chaos, pain. The first impulse is to say, “What am I doing wrong?” or, “Why me?” It is very hard to have faith. I am not suggesting blind faith that takes whatever is handed you with no respect for yourself. This is the thinking that leads into “doormatism,” if I may coin a word. This is not just blind acceptance which disempowers. Faith, on the contrary, true faith empowers because true faith comes from that part of you which cuts through the relative dualities of good and bad, right and wrong. True faith comes from that deeply connected core of your heart, and it is built on past experience of faith. It is built on wisdom, on looking back at this life and seeing that what you challenged with a bewildered, “Why?” turned out to have answers, turned out to be at times your greatest teacher. It is that grounded faith which grows out of connection and of love which enables you to deal with the bewilderment and occasional deep pain of your life, to cut through your war with that pain and confusion and take the next step. Put as simply as I can, if life never challenged you by offering you that which was difficult, how would you strengthen these muscles of faith? How would you practice faith without the catalyst which asks that of you?

Taking this to another place, we will look at such a situation as the making of the atomic bomb. Of course it is possible that there were some, even likely that there were some involved in the making of that bomb who did so with hatred in their hearts and the desire to kill others for revenge. There were also those who acted in the service of love and caring for others as best they knew how. You may question their wisdom, but you may not question their intention. If one says to you, “I truly believe that I can best preserve peace and sanity in the world by creating a terrible weapon,” their reasoning may be faulty, but their heartfelt motivation is to serve.

Is the bomb, in itself, good or bad? Is anything, in itself, good or bad? What grows out of it? There is a story of the man whose horse broke free of its barn and disappeared. The neighbors all said, “Oh, what bad luck!” The man shrugged and said, “Bad luck/good luck, who knows?” The neighbors shook their heads with bewilderment at his response. But the next day this mare came home leading a wild stallion, a strong and handsome animal. And the neighbors all said, “Oh, what good luck!” Again, the man shrugged, “Good luck/bad luck, who knows?” The next day the man’s son was attempting to groom this horse and the horse kicked him, breaking his leg. And again the neighbors all said, “Oh, what bad luck!” And again the man shrugged, “Good luck/bad luck, who knows?” Later that week soldiers came rounding up young men in the area to become scripts for the army, and they took all the young men in the town except this one with the broken leg.

Good luck/bad luck. What does “good” or “bad” mean? What are the motivations? What grows out of it? I am not stating here that it is acceptable to go out and murder people and say, “Well, there’s no such thing as bad.” You do live with one foot in relative reality. If you harm others, you are responsible for that harm; and it is never all right in terms of relative reality. But nothing on your earth plane happens without a reason, and nothing is without its karmic consequences.

What was the motivation of those who created a bomb? No, the ends do not justify the means. It is not okay to kill people to create peace. You will have to decide for yourself, however, if it is okay to do certain work if your intention is pure.

What are we weighing here, the work itself or the motivation? There are times when the answer is clear. So one, for example, who goes out to hunt for sport—killing animals perhaps as a guide, leading others to this killing—it is clear that this is action that harms others. But sometimes it is not very clear. Most of your work does not directly point to harm. And we also might ask, “Harm for what?” There is honest disagreement. Do we cut down rain forests, thereby killing the life therein? If we do not cut it down, what do we use for fields to grow food?

I’m not suggesting an answer here. Of course, I have my own views; but they are merely my opinion. The question is, “What is the motivation?” And here, we come back to faith. One can work as hard as one can to follow the path which one personally sees as relieving suffering in the world, but one also must have faith that one cannot fix other people, that one cannot grab other people and shake them out of their views. If people need to do that which seems to be destructive, one must simultaneously work as hard as one can to alleviate the suffering that grows out of that destructive path and also have faith that things are unfolding as they need to. It is not given to you on the human plane to see all the answers with foresight.

We come back to this same question, “Can I look at the multiple motivations within me?” Perhaps the difficulty is being with another being’s suffering. So I want to take that suffering away from them because it is so painful for me. I want to fix that. But in so wanting to fix them, I don’t give them their free-will choice, nor do I give them permission to be who they are and to learn in their own way. Do I have the right to do that?

You can open a door for another, but you cannot push them through. You can suggest to another, “I think that this is a path that will lead to suffering.” But you cannot insist on another’s agreement with your view. Here is where you need faith that you must speak up and act without attachment to results, where appropriate. And then you must let it unfold as it will, doing what you can, and then resting and letting it open as it needs to.

A simple illustration here is the child that wants to touch a hot stove. You tell the child ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, “No, it’s hot!” But the child has no concept of hot. You don’t simply shrug and say, “All right, touch the stove. See for yourself!” You continue to say, “No, it’s hot!” But somewhere along the line, you know the child’s going to touch that stove behind your back and learn for itself, “Yes, it’s hot!”

You can open the door to another’s learning, but you cannot know what the other needs most to learn. Perhaps those beings who built the atomic bomb and those who were involved in the bombing itself on both sides had lessons which you cannot begin to understand. We cannot judge others. That does not free us from responsibility for stating our viewpoint with love.

To shift tracks here, I would finally like to speak briefly to this last question of spiritual practice with one very specific suggestion, two actually: one all-encompassing and one specific. The all-encompassing: Whatever you do, do it with awareness; just that. Awareness is the key to all of your learning. The second: What is your own personal stumbling block? It will vary for each of you.

Awareness is the overall practice. There are many support practices which allow you to bring into your awareness the catalysts which give rise to that which you most need to practice. For the being, for example, who is very aware of the stumbling block of greed, of the fear, “Will my needs be met?” and the movement to hold on, to grasp—such a being might find it useful to move into a practice of always letting others go first, just to see what happens with that.

At a meditation retreat here last year, someone spoke of trying this: of seeing the fear in itself that it would not get what it needed to eat and of asking itself to always be last, to wait until everyone else had been served. In doing so, that being had need constantly to address that fear with awareness. And it also was given the opportunity to see that there was enough left. It began to see how much that fear was old-mind’s habit and was not a fear borne out in the present moment. So, it began to find that it could let go, that it no longer needed to own and identify with that fear.

Jealousy: A practice here is to notice, with compassion for yourself, the arising of jealousy at others’ good fortune; and then, very consciously, to allow the arising of gladness for them in yourself, to look as carefully as you can at that being’s fear and pain, and at the arising of joy in what it had been given or accomplished. As you work consciously with such a practice, you find a very real joy in others’ successes and happinesses. You allow a part of you that had been confined and not allowed expression to come out and express itself. And it allows for the disillusion of fear. You start to understand that another’s gain does not mean your loss. You correct that misunderstanding.

Generosity: Another one, another part of holding on and fearing one’s needs won’t be met. If this is a predominant issue for you, another way to work with it is to practice giving. Start with very small things, seeing that another needs a fork or a napkin. You are not giving your own, you are just reaching and getting it for them. But it is a practice in giving. It starts to open your heart to how wonderful it feels to give and be attentive to others’ needs. It starts to open your heart to that innate generosity of spirit. Then you increase the giving, not just of material things, but of your time and your energy. And you begin to learn that you do not lose anything when you give. Again, you correct the misunderstanding, not through forcing yourself with a “give till it hurts,” quite the contrary: a gentle process whereby you learn that giving is joy.

I will not elucidate with each stumbling block that each of you may have. You have got the gist of it. There are a great many different spiritual practices. First you must identify the stumbling block and then you can find an appropriate practice that relates to it.

I would like to open the floor here to any questions that there may be. That is all.

Aaron, do you have a practice for arrogance?

I am Aaron. First we must look at, “What is arrogance?” Can you see that arrogance is simply the flip side of the coin of unworthiness? To be arrogant is to presume oneself “better than” or feel the need to express a superiority, and inversely, to put another down.

Do not concentrate on the arrogance. That is dialoguing with fear. Move your focus instead to the sense of unworthiness. When you see the impulse toward arrogant response arising in you, let it be a flashing red light saying, “Fear is here,” and move that loving heart immediately to the fear. “In this moment, am I unworthy?” Your answer is going to be no. “Have I ever been unworthy at those times when I experienced an impulse toward arrogant response? No. It is simply the way that this mind/body construct has dealt with fear of being inadequate or unworthy. I don’t need to do that.” The spiritual practice that might then be derived from that is to allow the arising of arrogance to be a reminder to be compassionate to this illusory but seemingly real self that is experiencing fear.

The person who experiences that which seems arrogant in itself undoubtedly also frequently experiences arrogance in others. Here is where a valuable practice comes in, of seeing the arrogance in others as their fear. You may begin to work with a forgiveness meditation, really trying to see their fear manifesting that arrogant reaction. As you forgive them, you forgive yourself. Is that sufficient answer or have you further question?

Can Aaron hear Q’uo, hear what Q’uo is saying? Is it communicated to you so you can pay due attention to Q’uo?

I am Aaron. I hear Q’uo’s thoughts but not Q’uo’s words. In other words, I hear the thoughts, but do not know the choice of words with which Carla has framed those thoughts, because Carla is not thinking the thoughts. They are simply emerging.

Interestingly, last night at a point when the tape was being changed, Q’uo’s thought was, “We now will pass the microphone to Aaron,” so I told Barbara, “It is time to speak,” but Q’uo had not yet said that. It was simply the thought. Thus, this instrument held back.

I can hear all of your thoughts. I will not tell Barbara those thoughts. Barbara is responsible for her deafness in ways that she understands. I am not saying she went out and punched a hole in her ear, but in very real ways she is karmically responsible for her deafness and responsible for the consequences of the isolation and limited communication that forces upon her. And I will not simply remove that burden from her. She must live with it. I understand that it then places a burden on others to communicate with her. Perhaps that is also part of the whole karmic cycle of it.

I will tell her when there is something that could be dangerous. For instance, in a car, at one point she had begun to move from the left lane into the right lane because there was a car behind her that wished to pass. As she began to pull into the right lane, the car that was behind her speeded up and started to pull beside her into that same right lane to pass her on the right, the driver driving erratically, angrily. He honked his horn, but of course Barbara did not hear that. Here I did step in, simply saying, “Left, left,” and Barbara trusted my voice enough not to pull into the right lane but to swerve back left again, and the driver sped past.

So, I will help with that which she does not hear when it is a potentially life-threatening situation, but I will not step in to simply supply the ears she has lost. That is her responsibility. Does that answer your question?

[Inaudible]

This morning Aaron was telling us about what happens when we die, and it was very interesting. And we said, “Let it wait until everyone can hear it,” about the transition period and so forth.

I am Aaron. This answer will take at least ten or fifteen minutes. May I suggest that it be my contribution to our fireside stories? Will that be acceptable to you? That is all.

Do you mean you are going to tell ghost stories now? Wouldn’t it be fun to hear some Christmas stories.

Aaron says, “That’s another kind of ghost story: Holy Ghost stories.”

[Group laughter.]

Is there one other short question?

Should we guard our socks when we go home?

I am Aaron. It is my firm belief that socks are given to you in pairs for the sole reason of offering you the chance to practice at non-attachment and to practice offering other beings a free will. I have told you before that on our planes we take your cast-offs gladly and have no preference as to whether they match. Perhaps eventually we will be able to finally tell enlightened beings on this earth because they will randomly wear socks that match or do not match, with no great attachment. That is all.

[More group laughter.]

Is that how we get lint in the dryer?

I am Aaron. The lint in your dryer comes from the material of your clothes practicing dissolution of form. That is all.

[The session was paused for a period of group meditation, singing and poetry reading.]

So many of us get trapped in that being spiritual, being good, means never saying no, never being angry, never having emotions. Aaron says that it is harder for those of us who are old souls, as all of us here are, because we so much aspire to purify our energy—an intention that works against us because even if there’s a little bit of negativity in us, instead of just taking it in our stride as younger souls do, he says that the closer that we get to getting ready to graduate from the plane, the more perfectionistic we get. And that’s one of the last lessons that we learn: finding love for our very fallible human selves.

What kind of being is the Q’uo? Is it a sixth-density social memory complex? And for what purpose did it become one; that is, a joined group entity?

Before the Ra contact began, I was channeling mostly a fifth-density entity named Latwii. It was a social memory complex, fifth-density wisdom. I really liked Latwii. After Don died, I did not channel Ra anymore at Ra’s request, and went back to channeling Latwii and others. I got a contact from Q’uo soon after that … six months. We thought, “Q’uo, what an odd name.” A couple of years later we finally developed enough wit to ask who Q’uo was. And Q’uo said that they were a principle made up of Latwii and one of Latwii’s teachers who was also one of our teachers by the name of Ra. I could no longer channel the narrow beam which required trance, but I could channel fifth density. And Latwii could talk to those of Ra and be somewhat better able to focus on the question than they were before. So, Q’uo is a sort of new, improved Latwii and Ra. The purpose of their contacting us is because we asked for it. The purpose of their joining was to contact us.

Have they ever identified themselves as to where they’re from?

No.

Have you had much contact with Pleiadian entities?

I have worked with people who have been channeling the Pleiades. I have not accepted that contact.

Have you turned it away?

Yes.

Why? Is that a personal question?

No. It is a question having to do with my judgment that the contact is mixed.

Yes. That fits with what we’ve heard about the Pleiades. There are different purposes at work coming from that system.

Could someone speak to what they are? I’ve never heard of it.

The Pleiadians are a star formation, aren’t they?

Yes! And it’s one of the oldest civilizations in the galaxy. Aaron gave some talks about how a lot of our culture was seeded from the Pleiades and that a lot of us came from the Pleiades.

It’s very strong energy, but it’s also capable of a good bit of delusion.

Can you pick and choose?

I don’t think you can as well, once you accept contact. You’re going to get what you get.

Last spring Aaron talked about the Pleiades, but I have not yet seen the transcripts from that. Does anybody know what he said? Does anybody remember? Can you share a little bit with us?

As I best recall, the Pleiadians were a very ancient civilization that was made up, not of one race, but of many different kinds of beings who came together—physical beings and non-physical beings like water beings, air beings, more ethereal beings. And they had a governing council made up of beings who were incarnate and discarnate. That council and those beings were aware of the distortions that were happening on Earth due to extraterrestrial contact with the Earth—negatively polarized contact. And there was a debate about whether or not to intervene.

So, some of the beings from the council (it is not a governing council but a voluntary council, like a service group) came to Earth. They came, not as incarnate beings, but as shape changers, which is a way of simulating incarnation here in the physical but being able to leave at will and not be subject to the karma here. So, they were hoping that by simulating the negatively polarized extraterrestrials, they could give a different message of love instead of a negative one of fear. But what they didn’t realize was that by taking the form of these negative beings, they had to copy them so precisely that they had the capability to even emulate the emotional body to such an extent they could not separate from the negative polarity as well.

Thus, they fell into negativity because they also, despite their very good intentions, had a very small amount of mixed motivations or negativity within them. They were very loving beings with very good intentions, but they overestimated their own ability and their own need to learn from the negative half to understand negativity within them. So eventually many of them took incarnation. And as the years and incarnations went by, many of the lessons from their civilization became seed-points of our own great civilization. They were bringers of culture and light.

So, they came to teach, but also ended up coming to learn, and many are still here working out their karma. There is still contact going on from the Pleiades, as Aaron has told us, but there is still a debate about this contact and whether beings from other planets should actively intervene.

This was an echo of previous history in which the makers of Earth had seen the negative contact with their creations—the people of Earth—and they tried to protect them somehow, not trusting people’s ability to learn from this negative contact. And this protectiveness by these beings who founded Earth became itself a negative catalyst; and further … yes! … it was the birth of fear on Earth!

This was long before the Pleiadians saw the contact of extraterrestrials, which was far more negative by then. So, now I think some of the contact that Carla is talking about is some of these beings come to do good, but not to intervene. There is a law or agreement not to come to Earth unless it is by incarnation. But what about those beings who do not follow the law? Do you enforce control or allow those beings to go ahead with breaking this law?

Aaron says two things. He says, “Thank you!” to you. (I’m paraphrasing here.) He’s saying that there is a force field of sorts around the Earth. They cannot use fear. They use love as the energy of this force field to prevent encroachment by negative energy. There’s a force field of love which prevents highly negative energy from encroaching, because they’re repelled by this force field. But energies such as the Pleiadians are not negatively polarized, simply, in Aaron’s viewpoint, have misunderstanding that the end justifies the means, and thus have intervened rather than trusting and having faith in those on Earth to work it out on their own; but they are not repelled by the force field because they are positively polarized beings. That is all.

Has anyone here read, Bringer of the Dawn?

Yes, I have. And I asked Aaron about it and he said to read it very selectively. It is both clear and fear-based.

It does tend to create fear in a major DNA change in another twenty years. That sounds pretty fearful. But there are some things in it that I think are interesting topics of discussion.

[The group offered topics for the next session.]

“How do we move into the space of being unselfconscious?”

“Do we connect with each other vibrationally, for the most part?”

“Is there reincarnation in groups? How does that work? How do we find each other?”

“Did Christ and Buddha “hang out” together?”

“It seems that unworthiness really goes deep, like it is genetically encoded, almost like a catalyst. Is it genetically encoded? What is the origin of unworthiness?”

“Is it better to take it slow or to try to complete this density in this lifetime?”

“Hopi prophesies?”

  1. Broadway musical of 1965, written by Dale Wasserman. ↩

  2. “The Impossible Dream,” music by M. Leigh and lyrics by J. Darion, 1965. ↩

  3. Holy Bible, Matthew 25:40. ↩