Scholarship… And… Experience

WED., MAR. 8, 2000, 8:44 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

This morning’s interactive discussion was a good one, and it was good to have John Patrick and Robert with your “traditional” group. The reading which provoked the first portion of the discussion was a scholarly treatise on Why the Gospels were “as they are”… recognized, officially as canon. From this interchange you realized, yet again, that you are not a “natural scholar,” particularly of the ilk who organize, systematically, what others have written. And you would not call what We do Together scholarship, preferring the designation “mystical.”

A major standard of scholarship is that any work so designated may be “checked” systematically and independently by going back to the original, basic source materials. You and I both assert that these Teachings come directly from Me, and there is no scholarly way to validate them. And, I’ll add, that it is never truly appropriate to declare that “The Spirit, the Holy One, would not say that”… or … “in that way.” For, remember, that though I am One with the Father God and Jesus, the Christ, I am not “bound” by what has been written and attributed to them. In the Holy Scriptures I am referred to, but am rarely, if ever, quoted. And the Scriptures were composed in a time nearly 2,000 years ago. I am active in the earth, here and now, in the year 2000, and I speak to you with full awareness of the conditions of life now.

Thus, it becomes “weaker” to try to “check” what I say to you with Scripture appropriate to a time long past. Oh, I certainly agree and affirm that there is a true connection between these Teachings and Holy Scripture, and there is much more agreement than conflict, but I have no apologies for what I have you write. You are an individual American, Christian mystic, and I say to you what I want you to hear. You must not be limited to the writings that are “officially Christian.” For though I am an active and inherent part of the Christian Three-in-One Godhead I am not limited to perceptions of this. I Am Mystical, in the best (or worst?) sense.

Hence, you are called, directly and mystically, to hear and write down these Teachings from Me. This is a direct experience that you can describe only partially. How do you know, for sure, what to write? You are not hearing Me audibly (so I don’t have an accent), but this… “hearing”… is the closest descriptor of how it works. The “liturgy” that We have developed (oh, when I’m referring to you and to Me, you get to be included in the capitalized “We”) requires this green-tinted, lined paper, and a special pen not used for any other purpose. (So, yes, it is sacred, with a small “s”). We commence with a date, starting time and the place that you are for this mystical experience… any place relatively quiet (even airport waiting rooms!). I give you a title… if you haven’t discerned this during the preparation… you print it in capitals and the Teaching begins. It always ends, now, at the bottom of the 3rd handwritten page… which, conveniently, translates into one printed page. You are not a “natural liturgist,” but you have adapted to… and are comfortable with… this “way.”

This is your “new” experience, now encountered 3 or 4 times a week. Your form of scholarship is displayed as you go through some process to select a theme for a Russell’s Ruminations and then go through a crude form of scholarship in finding and selecting Teachings which become the heart of each Letter. This process is an indescribable mixture of the “scholarship thing” and your mystical discernment, guided by Me.

You have accepted this unique, special call, and are comfortable and pleased with it. Woops! I should say you are comfortable being the “receiver,” but you’re still inhibited by your “middle-class Presbyterian” identity in telling many othesr, directly, about this gift.