The question tonight is: Ra says, “Know yourself. Accept yourself. Become the Creator.” We would like to know what is the difference between knowing yourself on the one hand and accepting yourself on the other. Could you define these? Is there any significance in the placement of self-knowledge before self-acceptance in this statement?
(Carla channeling)
Q’uo
We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Greetings in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, in whose service we come to you this day. What a privilege it is to be invited to join your circle of seeking and to share in your meditation. We thank you for calling us to be with you. As always, we are astounded at the beauty of your vibrations and at your love for each other as you sit in the circle, blending your auras harmoniously and affectionately, creating that sacred space, that temple into which our voice may come. And we celebrate the extended family that sits in the circle of those who listen by webcast or broadcast and thank each of you also for lending your vibrations to this beautiful temple and creating this sacred space.
We are most happy to speak to the query concerning knowing and accepting the self which is before us this evening. But first, as always, we would ask that each use discrimination as our thoughts pass by your ears. Take those which interest you and resonate to you and leave the rest behind, knowing that it is only the path of resonance which is your true path. It is not necessary to consider every thought as equal, for the spiritual walk is very subjective, and what is helpful for one person may be a stumbling block for another. Therefore, please guard the gateway to your own temple of perception. We thank you for this as it will enable us to feel free to share our thoughts without infringing upon your free will or disturbing your spiritual evolution.
You ask this day what it is to know the self, and what it is to accept the self, how the two are the same or similar and how they are different. One way in which they are different is that one precedes the other. One must know oneself before one can fully accept oneself. It is not an authentic concept to accept the self in the absence of knowledge. It is an empty acceptance. Consequently, knowing the self does precede the process of accepting the self. So, we shall talk about knowing the self first.
Recently this group to whom I’m speaking now held its annual gathering, which they call a Homecoming. In this particular Homecoming the theme was, “Who am I?” The entire weekend was spent attempting to approach that question. Those preparing to facilitate this weekend had taken care to offer people ways to approach the question that had some structure.
And so the group together looked at the self as a sexual being, as a being who wished to survive, as a being who had personal relationships, and as part of groups such as the family, the birth family, the work family, and so forth. Then it looked at what it was to be within the open heart and how identity was bound together with the ability to communicate clearly and compassionately. And lastly the self was looked at as a magical creature who was capable of doing work in consciousness.
These ways of looking at the self are all helpful in pursuing the self and discovering more of the underlying structure of one’s identity. And yet, as our words must, these considerations fell far short of opening up to the seeker the essence of identity.
It is a seemingly simple question to ask, “Who am I?” And yet it is endlessly subtle. For to know the self is to know not simply things about the self, but to know that which holds all of those parts of the self together. Eventually the question of “Who am I?” leads into that spacious and integrated sense of being that reflects one of the names of the Creator chosen by those of the Old Testament times to describe their deity: “I AM THAT I AM.”
Part of knowing the self is becoming cognizant of and responsible for one’s past. For one expresses oneself throughout an incarnation, from the very beginning of an entity’s life in third density, as soon as speech is achieved and communication with others begins. Each interaction discloses the self to the self. And the seeker learns about himself throughout each interaction.
Seekers will find that they have certain characteristics of personality which are persistent and unique to them. And that information is good to know. The seeker will deal with these characteristics of the personality throughout the incarnation, and it is well to be aware of those quirks. Yet, that is just the beginning of learning to know the self. For the personality is as a sketch. It is unfinished. It is in living out the life day-by-day, and garnering that harvest of daily interactions and responses, that the seeker begins to know himself better.
We would distinguish between observing the self and judging the self, for getting to know the self is not a matter of amending the self in order to fulfill a set of guidelines that has been handed down from some source exterior to the self. Rather, getting to know the self is a series of spontaneous realizations, as one looks back upon an interaction that has occurred and realizes that the action that may have seemingly been carelessly chosen was, in actuality, inevitable.
For there are inhering characteristics within each entity’s identity that sound the theme of the incarnation again and again. It is as though your incarnation were a film or an opera and, in the soundtrack, the leitmotif of the music would play again and again throughout the incarnation, when the thematic repetition of the pattern would occur.
This instrument was speaking earlier about her inability to grasp how various entities offered so many kind thoughts to her. And yet this is to be expected, since this entity’s leitmotif throughout decades of work with those who come to the organization that is known as L/L Research for help has been consistent. There is no grand plan that would support this entity helping others, but only a heart full of love and the intention to support and encourage those about her.
If this is done at random, it does not sound that leitmotif, that thematic melody in the incarnation. Yet if it is done again and again and again, in a consistent fashion, then the metaphysical energy of that consistency sets up a pattern. Love is reflected in love. And so this instrument now has the catalyst of learning how to accept the love offerings of others.
Indeed, to know the self is to begin to become aware of the essence of self that trembles on the brink of manifestation. It is to know that which is the great motivator of the self. It is to grasp, to some extent, that sense of the right use of the incarnation, the right way or ways of offering the self in service to others. Underneath the manifestation of the gifts and the lessons learned there is that underlying and rather vast area or precinct of the self that is beyond expression, yet which is the foundation for all that is manifest within a seeker’s lifetime.
It is easy for us to say to you that all is one and that you are everything and every emotion. It is more difficult to grasp the unitary nature of your being and the being of those around you. The one known as Jesus addressed this unitary nature of all that is when he thanked those who were following him for feeding him and clothing him and giving him supper.
And his disciples said to him, “Lord we don’t remember feeding you or clothing you or giving you supper.”
And Jesus replied, “Even as you feed and clothe and give aid to the least of these my brethren, so you do unto me.”
The question of “Who am I?” extends beyond the precincts of selfhood and into that impersonal portion of the self in which the servant is the master and the master is the servant, in which the giver of love is the receiver of love and the receiver of love is the giver of love.
As the seeker grows to know itself better and presses its search, it begins to learn a great many things which seem paradoxical. For the seeker of identity finds that the self is both loving and unloving; both sympathetic and willing to offer consolation and unsympathetic and willing only to judge. All of these awareness of self, then, can begin to be recognized for the healthful and appropriate paradoxes that are a part of being a human being in third density, of being both sides of the dynamics.
When the seeker begins more fully to grasp the contradictory and paradoxical nature of his identity, he then begins to see the way ahead in terms of the business of the incarnation in third density, which is to choose between those paradoxes and dynamics and opposites, so that out of the welter of all that there is, and within the limitations of the quirks of personality and the cluster of gifts given, he begins to describe to himself the precise dance that he wishes to dance in these few and precious days of human incarnation. He begins to see which song he wishes to sing with the little breath that is given him in one lifetime. And he begins to treasure his time and his opportunity to make choices and to express the deepest and the highest of his ideals, his dreams, his hopes, and his intentions.
As he becomes more and more the master of who he is, he may then choose the manner of his living and his expression. And it is in this wise that the seeker comes to know himself. Certainly no seeker can exhaust the material of the incarnation and conclude that he is now in full possession of the knowledge of who he is. For beingness is a fountain that bubbles up from the depths of each being’s heart endlessly. Yet each bubbling fountain of selfhood shall have a unique flavor. Each entity shall sing his own song and dance his own dance.
As each seeker goes deeper he will find the images and the themes of the archetypal mind beginning to have more substance within his awareness of who he is. He may begin to identify himself with beauty or truth or power or love, as he sees within the living myth of his own growing legend the shape of underlying archetype. And these considerations, too, aid in knowing the self. This quest shall always be a work in progress.
Let us gaze know at what it is to accept the self. Accepting the self recapitulates the journey from head to heart, from manifestation to essence, which knowing the self offers. It is easy to accept the self intellectually. There are hundreds of clichés about the business of accepting the self:
“One person can only do so much.”
“I’m doing the best that I can.”
“I gave it my best shot.”
“Anybody would have done the same thing.”
With such commonplaces, the mind rationalizes the self to the self. And yet there is no satisfaction in such exercise. An entity may see the imperfection of the self and invoke an outer presence that comes from above to forgive. And there is an appropriateness to this construct, for the developing seeker has need for ways to ameliorate the effects of his awareness of falling short of his ideals and of making errors which he would take back if he could, but which he cannot take back.
In the song before this meditation began, the one known as Arlo was musing that “footsteps on the water take him back to who he is.” So it is for this instrument, for in the figure of the one known as Jesus the Christ, walking upon the water and calming the storm, lies that outstretched hand which the seeker may take to bring him up out of the depths of his shame, his guilt, and his confusion.
Yet accepting the self goes beyond describing oneself as a wretch, as does the old hymn Amazing Grace. It is almost, in this song, as if grace were the Lone Ranger that comes riding into town and saves the wretch from whatever peccadilloes or villains the Western desert has brought forth to threaten or to condemn. There is, in accepting the self, the necessity to move beyond the need for others’ acceptance of you and, likewise, to move beyond the need to beg acceptance of a higher power. For if one depends forever upon a higher power to be acceptable or to achieve acceptance or goodness as a spirit, then one can never become the Creator, but shall always remain a beggar at the Lord’s table.
And many are content so to be. Yet the intent of the instruction to accept the self has to do with allowing the redemptive power such as a figure as Jesus the Christ to become internalized. It is to acknowledge the oneness between the imperfect self and the perfected self. It is to accept the power of one’s ability to judge. It is to accept one’s essence as magical and creative.
If all the world accepts you, yet you reject yourself as unworthy, you shall be unworthy; you shall not be acceptable. So the work of accepting the self is the work of gathering these awarenesses of self into full awareness and consciousness and then finding within that self the upwelling creatorship which is able to forgive the self for being its imperfect self.
Accepting the self is a matter of becoming a judge that is not condemnatory but compassionate. We do not argue in any way that each entity has many self-perceived imperfections. However, the nature of acceptance of the self is such that to accept the self is to forgive and to redeem the self.
And how shall that be done? It begins with the bare idea of the possibility of forgiveness. With an upwelling of faith that forgiveness is possible, a seeker may begin to have compassion upon himself. His interest is not in making excuses for himself or rationalizing things done amiss or things not done which ought to have been done, in the seeker’s opinion. Rather, it is in the growing willingness to go after the lost sheep of imperfection and imperfect actions and to carry them back into the heart to be loved, respected, honored and forgiven.
It is the work of considerable spiritual maturity to accept the self. Even if every external action in a seeker’s life is perfect in the seeker’s own opinion, yet still the seeker knows his secret thoughts. He is aware of the mean and petty emotions that churn, unspoken and unrevealed to the world, within his heart. To accept the self, then, the seeker faces these very imperfections and, with willingness to flow into them, he moves into the energy body to the point where those energies dwell: in the shadows of red ray or orange ray or yellow ray; in lust or greed or the desire to persuade, manipulate or control. And he goes after that part of himself that covets; that part of himself that wishes to do murder; that part of himself that wishes to take that which he wants, even though it is not his.
He brings it back as the lost sheep, carrying it tenderly, returning it to the whole system of his being, bringing it into the compassionate heart of hearts wherein lies his part of the creative principle, his spark of the One. For never mistake that the fire of oneness burns within all, known or unknown.
Accepting the self, just as knowing the self, is an unending exploration, for there is always that which is new. New circumstances spring forth and create new situations in which the self has previously been untried. And each interaction in each situation brings its fruit of self-knowledge and its opportunity for further integration into self-acceptance.
The end result of these two processes together is to become the Creator, compassionate, loving and understanding. This is gained by working upon the self. And once one has forgiven and become compassionate towards the self, then that entity becomes that magical person who is able to love, forgive and have compassion on others.
We would ask, before we move on to opening the meeting to other questions, if there is a follow-up to this query. We are those of Q’uo.
[Pause]
(Carla channeling)
We are those of the Q’uo, and are with this instrument. As there is no follow-up to this query, we ask if there is another query at this time. We are those of Q’uo.
R
I will ask a question which touches upon what you described. Would you recapitulate on finding or touching the essence of the self as we go about our everyday activities and feel as if we are doing something right or feel that we are doing everything right, yet we feel that there is a deeper truth of being that is below the surface? Could you comment on that?
Q’uo
We are those of Q’uo, and we believe we understand your query. Do you wish to understand the dynamic between the way in which you feel as you go through a regular day and what is actually happening on a deeper level as you go through a regular day? We are those of the Q’uo.
R
Yes, please speak to that.
Q’uo
We are those of the Q’uo, and we are glad to speak to that, my brother.
As the one known as R was saying before the meditation began, there is a rush and a hurry to the days very often. The days seem swallowed up in detail. There are many things to do. It is the story of Mary and Martha, from the holy work known as the Bible, where Martha is attempting to get a meal ready for the one known as Jesus as he sits in the home of Mary and Martha, teaching the disciples.
Martha is ragged with too many things to do and not enough time to serve everyone, so she asks if Mary can come help her in the kitchen. Mary is sitting at the feet of the one known as Jesus, drinking in every word. And Jesus refuses to send Mary into the kitchen to help Martha. Insensitive to Martha’s need for help, he simply states that of the two activities, Mary’s is the greater.
The hurry-scurry of life for many, many people within your society does not seem to allow time to sit at the feet of the master and drink in the pearls of wisdom that fall from his lips. It would seem that the time must be spent in the chores of kitchen, work, duties, errands, appointments and details of all kinds. Upon the level of the everyday experience it may well be that there is a near-complete lack of the awareness of the undergirding majesty of the moments that pass.
Yet at the same time there is within the one known as R, just as there is within all entities whatsoever, the deeper serenities and lovely tunes of a sacredly lived life. For there is in every seeker a desire and an intention to live life sacredly. Therefore, it is a matter of being able to achieve enough awareness of the self living the day so that there begins to be a transparency to the duties, the chores, the errands, the work, the kitchen, the details of the day, so that one may see, at the same time as one is fulfilling one’s duties, the undergirding substance and essence which is sacred.
For it is consciousness which lives the life, whether or not one is conscious of one’s own consciousness. Let us speak to that. There are two minds that interpenetrate each other in each seeker’s head and heart. One mind is concerned with making choices in order to function well in terms of the needs of the day. That is the Martha-mind. There is another mind which is impersonal in that it is shared by everyone, and that mind is consciousness.
Each seeker has both of these within him, plaited up as the tresses of a maiden, often indistinguishable from each other and always interwoven, so that seldom is there a completely pure awareness of the Martha-mind. There are almost always little glimpses and glimmers of the Mary-mind as one fulfills one’s duties. Yet there is great art and skill in training the self to remember to access the Mary-mind, the mind of consciousness that reveals the Creator in every moment, in every movement, in every humble chore.
For all things whatsoever, done with the consciousness of love, become sacred. Thusly, my brother, when you feel the farthest from any true spirituality in your daily regular life, you are, at the same time, a hair’s breadth from accessing the astounding power of consciousness. And when you can access that consciousness and invite it up into the details of your life, consciousness begins to live your life. And you know that there is nothing that you do that is not sacred.
May we answer you further? We are those of Q’uo.
R
Thank you. If one remembers or has the intention of seeing the sacred as he goes into an everyday activity, say, washing the dishes, does the intention actually bring the sacred into everyday activity?
Q’uo
We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. May we say you are quite correct in saying that remembrance is the key into integrating the sacred into the hurly-burly of a life lived in the fast lane.
How do you remember? Do you tie a string around your finger? Do you write something on your hand? Do you set your alarm on your watch? We would bring it down to the very practical and mundane, my brother, and suggest that you find a way to trigger your remembrance, a way that includes that which is always with you during the day.
This instrument wears a cross, and it reminds her of who she is, and why she is here. And this helps her to remember to live her life consciously. It may be, my brother, that you will find it helpful to write “remember” on the palm of your hand before you begin the day, or to purchase for yourself a bracelet with the word “remember” on it. Or, literally, tie a little string around your finger, or purchase a special ring that calls you to remembrance when you look at it.
It sounds as if it were a trick, and yet at the same time it is far more than a trick, for it aids you to open yourself to that part of your nature for a lack of which you are presently starving.
May we answer you further, my brother?
R
Yes. I would also ask, at the end of the day as one looks at the experiences and attempts to balance them, during this time when one asks for help of the guides or angelic presences to help one to remember the way, does this allow those presences to insert some pointers into the stream of thought to help remember?
Q’uo
We are those of the Q’uo, and are aware of your query, my brother. It is quite so that the development of habits such as the evening time of recollection and balancing of the self acts as a trigger to the remembrance of who your are and why you are here. Any habit that is set in place by the self with the intention of bringing the self to deeper consciousness acts, as the habit becomes ingrained, as a more and more effective call to remembrance.
Is there a further query, my brother? We are those of the Q’uo.
R
One last question. When I think of love/light, and I try to open to it, does the love transform my thought?
Q’uo
We are those of the Q’uo, and believe we grasp your query, my brother. It is so that at any point at which one’s heart rises in joy, appreciation and thankfulness at some beauty or blessing of life, one has accessed consciousness. The steady state of consciousness is one of joy, peace and love, and it is a wonderful experience when that sunshine bursts through and one’s heart is lifted up in the sudden awareness of the stunning beauty of the present moment.
We find that the energy of the instrument and of the sitting circle begins to wane, and at this time we would, with great thanks for being asked to be a part of your circle, take our leave of this instrument and this group, leaving each in the love, the light, the peace, and the power of the one infinite Creator. We are known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Adonai. Adonai.