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The Seventh Teaching The Four Seasons of Faith |
The Four Seasons of Faith
I opened my eyes and Jesus said,
Most honestly, I say to all of you, except that you are resurrected you cannot see the Kingdom of God. I have called you and you have heard my voice. Now in this Teaching please make perfected all the Teachings thus far.
In life you will, as I, journey through hills and deep valleys. There are seasons to your life cycles as well as to your internal moods in spirit. Except you know how to travel all the landscapes of the spiritual dimension, any one of the seasons can pull at you until you surrender to your fallen[i] self. This pull is to be met with the teachings of the four seasons. Do thus quickly and you shall live and have life more fully.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they Shall be Called the Children of God." In Aramaic to be a peacemaker is to create harmony between extremes.
The wheel of the Four Seasons of Faith enables us to become peacemakers. The wheel of the Four Seasons is an approach to life, especially when confronted with hardships under which we could buckle. Therefore, I ask in starting this Teaching, where are you now in your life? What if, after beginning the process of Learning to Trust, the rug slips from under your feet? How should you deal with your internal reality? What if you find your marriage on the rocks or find yourself addicted to something, or you feel resentful, lost, unloved, betrayed, searching for self-respect? Learning to Trust only takes you so far.
The Four Seasons of Faith assists each person to understand where they are internally and to know and understand how they can substantially move from there to the next step in their lives. To move we must understand how to extract the value out of the time and circumstances of our present reality. It's about learning and internalizing the specific spiritual, emotional or other kind of condition you’re in. This specific milieu tells us which season we’re in. It is vital to know how to successfully pass through the season and move to the next. The season is there for you with a character of its own to assist your healing.
Some of us instinctively understand the need for passing through the seasons but for some reason don’t act on the need to change. This is where the environment can assist us in seeing inside our reality. The universe is always trying to heal our lives, with God trying to restore our hearts to the ideal of love. Change is our opportunity to learn and grow. To change we must be honest about ourselves.
Autumn - The Beginning
In creation we see change occurring. The changing temperature of autumn causes the leaves to change color and the protection of the tree falls.
Yeshua said forty generations later,
The leaves do not fight to hold onto the season. They know they must give way to the forthcoming next step.
The Teachings say, it's better to look inside your spirit to see the reason why change is necessary and for you to be ready to surrender to it, because the environment (the judgment of the external) doesn’t afford the mercy you’d give yourself when seeking pardon by your original mind (higher self). This is because Creation can’t act with deliberate intention. At the minimum, creation can help us face issues of the spirit and body quite deeply; the environment can cause our roots to be yanked up. All of us at times have felt some force pulling up our roots - it’s kind of like having a root canal. Our circumstances press us deeper and deeper to extract the infected root. If we choose to ignore it, then the tooth must come out (and your smile won’t be as beautiful toothless).
Therefore, by self-confessing and surrendering to the confession, you will make a giant step into the autumn season. Surrendering to your confession may not be easy. However, as Jesus said forty generations later:
If one confesses and then denies the confession in the actions, what do we get but fruits that don't taste good. When one acts on the sin[ii], still even though they confessed, eventually they bear the fruits of the sin. In essence you've contradicted the confession that was given.
Yeshua said Forty Generations Later,
Please cast out the words of fallen Lucifer.[iii] In doing this, Lucifer loses his ground vertically.
We need to examine what the words of fallen Lucifer are saying, examine the “trash” of our lives, the no-hope road awaiting us, where we seek out pleasure to hide our pain, where we act without heart, believing that no one really cares, and so on. When there is confession from the heart, which is brought forth voluntarily, then the surrender of the self to the judgment/grace of the word, is a condition to change the direction of the mind vertically. This isn’t an absent-minded relationship with the Word (universal principle), rather a connection is made.
Confession from the heart frees a space that can then be occupied by universal truth. The fullness of what is unconfessed resists the arrival of liberating truth.
I don't believe Heaven punishes you if repeated mistakes occur. What might happen is that you become a spiritual basket case, at which point the need arises to act on the promise. Then when you act, the breath of grace will be with you. Or, the environment can act, challenging your life as a measure of the judgment/grace. We’ve all heard stories of those who change their lives after some big event, like a terrible illness or a car accident, the death of a loved one, or a near-death experience. These events are like phone calls saying it’s time to look inside your soul, cleanse yourself and find the gems of your life. Remember illness or accidents are not a punishment. Rather you can use it as an opportunity to look inside your soul and heal.
Some Religious Insight about Lucifer
This leads us to discussing the inherited results of the fall of man (the point where Adam and Eve[iv] “dropped the ball”), and the psychology of the so-called fallen mind.
In spiritual life we focus on the external “out there” forces we feel working on us, sometimes called ‘satanic’ influences. These forces pulling at us are attributed to the “father of the lie” or Lucifer. In extreme cases, people feel such shock and bewilderment at their actions they may claim, “The devil made me do it.” This is effectively a call for them to closely examine what internal crises are directing them to behavior for which they won’t claim responsibility. Many people understand that so-called fallen spirits (existing in the spiritual world) are wreaking havoc with their lives, but this really underscores their need to dig deep internally to understand and conquer these negative influences. We can change but changing requires an honest look at what is working in and through our lives. We cop out when we chalk it up to being possessed.
Important: While it is true that spiritual world does influence people on earth, it is half the story. Spirit people can assist you and disturbed spirit people can burden you. Finally you must rise to the occasion and examine internally what base you have to attract both sides. All people attract both sides - know this. It is not a judgement. Disturbed spirit people may want to be helped by you and you feel their imbalance for awhile. At the extreme end, possession can occur if your soul has a large enough fracture. By the same measure, if you are balanced and focusing on God in a pure way, high people in spirit world will be attracted to you.
The Residual
Lucifer was a good angel before he tempted Eve. The psychology of fallen Lucifer is to cause us to think that the problem is elsewhere, not in ourselves, and we have inherited the reasoning of this fallen way so much that it's part of our being. This is why religious life usually recommends a life of denial and purity to break away from habits and patterns that interfere with a spiritual way of life. To truly pave the way for the new to arrive, we must deny and forsake the old. It will probably feel lonely to finally let go of Lucifer's words to Eve, for man has become accustomed for tens of thousands of years to these words.
Yeshua has said,
Please do not listen to the inscription and read no longer, nor call back by memory, the fallen mind scriptures which says to eat when you should fast. For man does not live by bread alone (any form of temptation from fallen Lucifer), but from every word from the mouth of God.
Facing this word in the Autumn season means that we cannot ignore or explain away the truth staring us right in the face. The Escape Artist does this. The temptation is to turn stone to bread, yet man doesn’t live by bread alone (as Jesus reminded Lucifer when presented with the kingdom of the world if only he would turn stone to bread and renounce God, his Father). Yet our restoration lies in rejecting the fulfillment of physical/fallen mind. In a sense we are told to fast and not to eat the false food from fallen Lucifer.
Therefore, the casting out of Lucifer's teachings must come by way of judgment of his realm by true sons and daughters of God. Lucifer says, "Let me kiss you. And then I'll take off your shirt too." When we reject Lucifer’s call to us, we are free to meet Jesus, whom God sent as his first begotten son. Jesus is the first love of inheritance directly from God.
Jesus said forty generations later,
Whosoever would come, please do, all are welcome to come, step forward and receive, for the stepping forward will bring you into the reception in which the grafting will be taking place. Yes, by one thing people shall perish, the absence of love.
“I love you,” you may say, but you do not act on the love. “I love you,” you insist to the world and continue to live without resurrecting life in others.
Therefore, The Direct Teachings have it: Tell the truth and confess inside to yourself, bringing forth judgment by voluntarily submitting to your conscience that which cries out for the judgment. Then you’ll find yourself in the process of restitution. Not having first to face judgment, and next judgment comes giving you double judgment. Or at least it could be healthy to see it as that.
First is the judgment for not having confessed, (remember judgement is the process which sharpens consciousness) and a second judgment for saying that nothing was wrong. For having said right is wrong, and wrong is right. With this kind of mind game, the greater the risk grows to self-deprogram the True Mind, for you can’t believe in what’s right, yet deny it, then still feel good about it. Yet the “fallen” mind will seek evidence to prove truth is wrong and wrong is truth -- we actually become foreigners to our own True Mind. And we continue to hide even as the tree facing the winter might balk and say, "It's too cold, I can’t bare the pain of freezing, of being alone. The squirrels are not enough to take care of me by just burrowing a little hole in my tree, making a little home to hibernate in and bringing a few nuts in."
Nature is clear that we shouldn’t let go, we must keep the faith. The tree knows its own direction, it knows the seasons of growth; its inheritance is clear. When we are confused as to our direction (when we don’t know that there is inheritance), it becomes more difficult to resist the easy pull of Lucifer, always standing by offering a direction.
Lucifer completely failed his duty to help Adam and Eve go through the three early stages of growth. Lucifer jumped the gun by saying, "Let me snatch for myself now. I shall take away God’s treasure for myself. I won’t wait. Fast? Forget it, I want to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge right now. I'll give new knowledge to Eve: Good will become Evil and Evil will become Good.” That's why Satan comes from the word “Sata” to mislead, one big deception that plays very well internally.
The Work of the Blacksmith
Jesus said Forty Generations Later,
Therefore, the judgment of personality is to have the character forged like the iron in the heat. The Blacksmith with his hammer pounds the iron, and it is red and hot. Yes, you are burning inside, the pain in the soul is so great. And the great master shaping the iron comes with the hammer and pounds you until your shape is made right, even though you are burning inside. But the burning inside of you gives way to repentance, and confessing up, so that when you are constructed, your shape is changed. So, is it better you throw yourself into the fire? To be melted down. All of the impurity is be taken away as it is done with gold. Rather that than the hard, unmerciful Blacksmith comes. He puts the horseshoe in the fire and bangs and bangs and bangs it. And you say, “Enough already!” Bang, he hits the shoe again. Still the shape is not right. So, the master gets frustrated, he takes the hammer and hits the horse. Let it be the good master Blacksmith that helps you, not the unmerciful, frustrated one.
The Hard work of Autumn
Therefore, once we surrender, by our voluntary giving into the judgment of word, we set our mind on a straight, vertical path so that both our spiritual mind and our character find direction. So, we need to listen up and understand the Truth – but how to let go? We often impede our own progress by safely hiding behind various excuses and defenses, we “protect” ourselves from challenge. You’re being called now, gracefully. It may have been twenty years before you could be honest with yourself. Still here you are, knowing all your own suffering, offered the hand of grace and mercy. Now you’ll see that by confessing up in honesty you are staring at just exactly what you’ve been hiding from, internally.
Jesus asks through the Teachings Forty Generations Later,
What do the leaves on the tree say? What is the lesson to be learned from them? Why clothe yourself when you should stand naked and be seen? Notwithstanding, you are seen by God, and you are seen by your own conscience, unless you become the master of the escape, and your conscience has become destroyed. And wrong becomes right, and wrong is no longer seen by you as living wrong believing it's right. You escape your portion of responsibility.
Sometimes we find all of our effort is for naught because the effort we made and the forces of the energy were, in a certain sense, in pretense. You work and labor so many years, hard and long, sweating by the brow, and then, as The Teachings have said: Open your pocket and let’s examine the treasure that you have. Let’s see what kind of treasure is there. Shouldn’t you get benefit back from the investment put in the bank, for if you put in one thousand dollars, ten years later what should you have? You should have fifteen thousand dollars. But you go back, check your account, and end up only three thousand dollars. What happened?
Jesus Said Forty Generations Later,
Where is the benefit of the sacrificial life? Where has your investment been? Where is the foundation of the surrender, that surrendering to your sacrifice, that offering of indemnity[v] which begets progress? But let us look and examine where the progress is in your life. Show me the wholeness, the soundness of your life. Where is God in one's life? I am the resurrection Jesus said. Are you the resurrection? How do you pass from the death unto life? If so, then explain how it is done.
Resurrection means coming from death to life. In Aramaic it also means passing through a storm and peace is on the other side. We must understand the necessary steps by which we pass through death: first through autumn and through winter into the birth of the spring. Just exactly how do we get away from anguish, of feeling betrayal, distrust, loneliness, emptiness, frustration, unloved, rejected, left by the roadside damaged and bleeding, and nobody calls 911? How do we leave behind our own feeling of paralysis?
The spiritual mind says that we must understand how to come out of hiding, to stop escaping any normal life. The Fallen/Luciferian mind will insist that we stay in hiding: "No. Eat now. Partake of it." Yes, but be found full of Lucifer, in whatever aspect he assumes in your life – maybe it’s going to church, or tithing, studying Principle, all the things you’re doing. What is the one thing or group of things inside you that keep you from listening to your higher mind? What is the thing in your life to which you are still making love? God sees that which one day shall be illuminated into the outer trial; it’s true that all that is hidden shall be revealed. Therefore, it's better to reveal to your own conscience at this time. If you don’t reveal your own fallen nature to your conscience, you run the risk of being flushed out into the open standing naked, with your sin revealed to the person sitting next to you.
So, internally, what defenses and protections are you using thus hiding from yourself? What are you unwilling to examine, to look squarely face to face at the hidden sin, the secret things of which you tell no one? This is what must be let go of, because it is there that Lucifer lives quietly, like a fungus under floorboards. As with wood rust, the house will eventually collapse.
Jesus also taught that there is one more thing we must do: to give all that we have to the poor and follow Him. How would this be possible for us? How many of us could bear to part with our many attachments? Jesus asks that we stop seeking personal meaning from material things, for the dried leaves of fall gain no life by clinging to the naked tree in winter. We must stop our dependence on things, let them go if they are blocking you from God.
Jesus said forty generations later,
What things have you not done? What must you do to have eternal life? So, He asks, what are the commandments? Love God. Do not kill... The man with his material riches thought I cannot let go. This is too difficult for me. Therefore, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle, except it be by the power of God. For this man, it was impossible; but with God all things are possible. Therefore, one cannot pass through the eye of the needle, except it be with the power and assistance of God.
To have eternal life you must let go of all the leaves of autumn, stand naked, give up everything, and stand bare confessing up, looking squarely face to face at your own sin and transgressions, your own shame, your own hidden secret, the trail internally. It might be a hidden trail. And should you go to the spiritual world, you'll stand naked and then turn toward the Kingdom of God. You shall see things about having sex with the same sex; flirting with somebody else's spouse; going through the gate of heaven, resenting, hating, unforgiving, burning mad internally. Welcome me Father into the Kingdom with my spouse through the gate of heaven, resenting, hating, unforgiving, burning mad internally. Welcome me Father into the Kingdom of God, I am angry as all hell. ‘Do not bring hell into the heaven,’ say the gatekeepers.
First you must internally resolve the anger, the hate, the bitterness, and the inability to forgive, lest you bring it all to Heaven, for then what shall Heaven become but a reflection of yourself? Therefore, face, release and surrender it, for Jesus said, “the Kingdom of God is within you. Even as you bind on earth, so shall it be bound in heaven.”
Forty Generations Later He said,
So now is time to own up, confess up, to stand up, and to be found naked, exposed to your own conscience.
Examine what exactly you’re holding onto. See why you can’t get through the eye of the needle to be birthed into the other side of life where you’ll find innocence, pure gold, the strong substantial substance of your character so that when you speak, your word and your character become one. Then you don’t need to say, "Do as I say, but not as I do." This takes us back to Honesty, the First Teaching, back to letting go, being honest to oneself. Only when you have traced your life and looked squarely in the face of your personal life will the “environment” of your life appear as the last autumn leaves clinging to the tree, and there you'll be standing naked, with no excuse.
The Wedding and Proper Dress - What it means to prepare
There was a wedding to which many guests were invited and were gathered. The master (the bridegroom) came. All of the invited guests are there, all dressed in the proper attire. But the one man, he came improperly prepared, and he had no explanation. The master gave him a chance to own up, and to say, "Great king I'm sorry. I am before you improperly clothed. Mercy, I ask." And mercy would’ve been given.
Should one be found with the wrong clothing, at least have a reason.
Why should I wear good clothes before you? Do you understand? Not ironing yourself out or respecting the groom to be the King. "Why should I get dressed up to come before you? As if to say, why do I prepare my internal condition? Let me come with my trash, with an inner trial of betrayal to God and still be welcome at the wedding. At least say, "Father, yes it's true I am improperly clothed. But every time I send my suit to the dry cleaners, it still comes back wrinkles and dirty. I'm trying. I don't know what’s with wrong with the dry cleaners. Every time I try to iron, the wrinkle does not come out. But I am trying." And then, at least Father can say, "Show me your suit and here’s the iron. Let's understand together the problem of the wrinkles and you shall not be thrown out into darkness. Do you understand? So, the first Teaching today of the Four Seasons is: Where are you? Just exactly what type of ground are you standing on with regards to your spiritual life?
For when the wind and trouble come, just exactly how strong shall one be? Shall you know how to steer and to navigate? You cannot control everything, even as a captain cannot control the force of the waters of the trouble of the world. Then you must find your compass, turning the wheel to make changes. Do not worry about troubled waters if you have a compass. But how can you find the compass if you have Satan steering the ship?
Winter Season – Time of hibernation and serious reflection, a time of distilling.
And then the winter seasons comes. It's the place nobody wants to go. When one’s self-defense lets go of their ego which asks for gratification, protection, and shielding, so on. Autumn is the biggest problem, not being able to let go and surrender to the sacrifice. Holding on so desperately. Holding on. How can one be born except that they die? Isn't the question, (metaphorically speaking) how to die, not how to be born? The question is how to die and be buried, and then to be resurrected. It is a time of introspection looking inwardly very carefully. And yet in the inward looking one maybe provoked into anxiety for what they find they may rather not look at or they become unsettled.
The Winter Season is the beginning of finding clarity and hearing the voice of God calling. It can feel like no one is home because winter is barren. Practice silence and learn to listen. You may feel as if you are abandoned, but you have a certain amount of faith because you did let go. The leaves shed and the tree stands naked before all things. Internally, as winter develops, you feel cold inside; you do not feel loved. In wintertime, the lesson is of turning inward.
In the time of winter, one feels cold inside, one does not feel loved, one may not feel accepted, one does not feel nurtured. It is a time of waiting. In the winter you should expect nothing except maybe a few squirrels running around; maybe have an opportunity to have a few nuts bounce off your branch. And that's all. It's a time of patience but should one not have a patience, because of the long way to the spring, one comes out of the winter season into the artificial spring and pretends that all is well. That I'm living in the right environment now so that I don't have to face the pain of the coldness resultant from the things I have done wrong, things I thought wrong, things I felt wrong. Looking at them creates pain inside of the soul. It is cold in winter. So long waiting for warmth and to feel loved, so long waiting for color in my life. So long wanting to get out of the gray life. Everything looks gray when you are color blind, where it seems as if I shall not take interest any longer in anything. “Nothing makes me happy. There is no joy in anything which I do. I cannot be reached no matter what. I cannot be reached no matter what it is. I cannot be touched. I am trapped inside like the wintertime.”
Though in the winter, even trees have squirrels running around. Winter is the time to be satisfied with the minimum, next to nothing but bare survival as with the hibernating animals. But what is the faith that is required in the winter season, not knowing the sum of what the day shall be? How long can one wait? How long must one endure before they feel some light is coming to them? The introspection, that looking, that working off of your own reserves internally. Saving your life as if fasting off of your own body, says the bear. Do you follow?
One acts too quickly and jumps into spring, and since it's not real - how long will it last? When the challenge comes you own up, you are found without treasure to show, to be found fake internally, because you do not deserve the goods to the spring season. There's no fragrance, there's no beauty, there's no picking up the flowers to bring home because on the inside that person really still is in the winter season.
Therefore, one becomes dishonest and depends on themselves to continue hiding when they should be coming face to face with themselves by the beaming light of true life. You cannot be comfortable. You cannot eat the cake. You cannot be part of the great wedding for you feel you should not be there. You cannot celebrate for the judgment of the wedding itself draws you out, doesn't it? You receive gifts from others when you say to yourself, “I'm unworthy to receive these gifts.” You feel that you cannot even use them. So, of the ten, the wise ones were prepared for they were vigilant, their lamps did not burn out. They kept extra oil, didn't they? Where is your reserve? Where did you store up your treasure upon which to draw from?
How deep is your reasoning for holding on?
Don't be scared. Don't scare the dough. You work the flour. You knead it, you pound it, and then you put a moist clothe over it, and leave it, don't you? You don't touch it again. Let the yeast work. Let the yeast of winter work in your life. Don't scare the dough and watch that miracle work. The bread shall rise and then you can eat the bread which came down from heaven. Don't be scared. You are the dough. The yeast is honesty bringing into the acceptance of the word, and then time is that bread.
And the wise answered, you cannot take it from me for there shall not be enough for us and for you so go to those who sell oil in town. So they go, and come back, and the door was shut. They hear the music. They called, they cried, they pounded on the door, and the bridegroom said, "Go away. You cannot be here.”
Ask yourself, are you drawn to the temporary as opposed to entering that heavenly retreat into oneself? Stop living a life of pretense, the overly religious life, realizing you crossed over to the left side of the road where you cannot help the wounded one who was robbed and beaten. The priest came along the road ... but the one without pretense comes by - the good Samaritan. He picks him up and brings him to the inn and leaves his money with the caretaker that he'll be taken care of.
In the winter season, you study why you crossed over to the other side. It is time also to cross back over. It is a time of the teachings of the parable of what? Of the ten virgins. Be therefore ready when the son of men comes, when you shall be visited by God, face to face with True Parents[vi], face to face with God.
Therefore, where is your reservoir? How deep can you reach into your soul and draw out something of value, something of significance? How deep is your belief in yourself? Where and how deep is the reservoir of yourself? How deep is your belief cherishing the life in which you live the life of self-denial? Where and how deep is the reservoir from which you can drink? Or shall you come up short, begging to breathe the dust of the desert.
Therefore, the winter season is to be watchful, and to start to look inside for when the bridegroom comes at the midnight hour unannounced, He is here. The faithful start to look inside in preparation for the bridegroom. The foolish ones, they have to leave. They have no oil left. I cannot trim my wick or turn up my light for I am short of oil. Please, to the five wise, give me the oil that I may turn up my light and go in and be part of the wedding feast. And the wise ones saw them by their fruits. Now, a good tree does not bring (false) bad fruits. It brings good quality. But you must care for the tree. Prune it, check the roots, the soil. And does not the tree also need the seasons? Rain, sunshine, and worms to move the soil as The Teachings have it in the parable of the soil. What soil do you have for the roots of life to be planted into you? And what fruits can you bear should your soil not be turned and nourished? The leaves fall and in that falling of the leaves, they may be turned into the soil to feed your roots. So, letting go is a cherished thing. The letting go is a great thing. Being naked is a great thing. But one must be patient during that time and not become frustrated. Do not be found as the foolish virgins. Do you understand?
Don't Give Up
For in you made holy by way of the holy wine ceremony. So, you are virgins. But are you wise or foolish? And when the moment of calling comes, what can you show? How do you own up before God?
A widow went to the judge. Help me, she says. The judge, he couldn’t care less about God, nor does he respect men. He doesn’t care about public opinion. He told the widow, Go away. She has nothing but she needs mercy and protection from the judge of the town. Shamelessly she petitions again, please help me. And finally, he does. Not because he's been changed. Not because he respects God or respects people, but by her persistence. The widow left with nothing but one coin, and she gave it. And the one with hundred dollars gave five coins. Who gave more? What do you think? Yes, she gave all what she had. Can you give all you have in the winter season by being watchful? And then the judge said, "I will help you.” Again, not because he's changed but because of the complete investment of all she had in her heart.
And how much more would God do for you? How much more would God help you in your winter season?
And there is a man. He receives his guest at ten o'clock at night where in Palestine it is very hot during summertime, so you travel by night. And his guest suddenly appears, and he's found without bread. How shall I break bread with my guest? So, he goes to his neighbor’s house and bangs on the door. The door is answered, “My friend, my guest is here. I wish to break a bread with them. Would you please loan me some bread?” Shamelessly, shamelessly he asks, please! And he gets the bread. The neighbor never says, "My friend go home." He just says, "Go home." He received the bread because of shameless persistence.
Jesus said explaining a parable during his life, Ask, and you'll receive. Seek, and you'll find. Knock, and the door will be opened. And should someone ask you for fish, you would not give him serpent. Tonight, I have no bread and the person who answered the door says, " I'm sorry. Don't bother me now. I’ve been asleep and you woke me. My wife was sleeping, and you disturbed my children also. Go home don't bother me tonight." And he closed the door not being one with God, not know what good things to give to those who ask you. How much more would God give good things to those that ask him in the winter season? Faith, that hope of things to come not yet attained. How little is one's faith. People in the world persist and they get, but sons and daughters of God do not believe that their Father shall give to them. Do you follow? "
What is faith? In the winter season watch therefore yourself internally and examine the quality of your oil so your light can burn. Do not be found without oil. Yes, it means springtime will come. You've got a blossom when the time comes for the bud to open. Then what happens? The bees come looking for the nectar and they say, "Nothing here. Nothing good happening here. No. This flower seems one of those flowers that came from the green house or the florist.” Do you know those type? Forced to open and put in the refrigerator and dies in five days.
How deep is the depth of your soil? How far can you reach into your soul? Put your hand into the soil of your soul and tell me what is the measure of the depth of your topsoil? When the wind comes, is the plant is uprooted? When rains fall, do the roots come up? Situations happen that plow through your life and turn your soil for you. Doesn't it happen? You get smacked in the face, and you wake up. That is the judgement of the environment as I spoke to you about in the beginning. If you don’t turn your own soil, someone will come and plow your soil for you. And you will say, "It's hurts. Please stop." It’ll continue anyway. Then after the plowman has his way, the Son of Man can come and scatter seeds. You see, all things work for the purpose of good. Do you understand?
So, in the winter season (in the washing) is the work of honesty born out of the autumn which turns your soil until you turn the soil yourself. All things can work together for the purpose of good. All suffering, all misery, all heart break, all let downs. If you have a right internal structure, all things work for the purpose of good if you understand how to turn your own soil.
He said Forty Generations Later,
Therefore, the winter season is the time of watchfulness, preparation, patience, turning the soil, so you can begin to plant. You plant your seeds in early spring that you have food to eat during the summer, and for others."
Have faith like the widow. Be persistent but be true and honest in your persistence. Be honest to God and then how much more would God want to meet you?
Do you know how much energy is required to staying a fake, to keep up a façade? To keep the show going requires a lot of energy on behalf of the person. Eventually this person will break. Before the winter season is the work of turning the soil so in the beginning of spring seeds can sprout. All I have is this one coin, Father. I give this last coin to you. You want to break bread but shamelessly your intention must be pure and honest. You beg at the door of next neighbor, “please loan me.” He doesn't give, but you’re innocent and true. And remember that God already believes in you before the winter comes.
Then reflect on things and understand from the first Teaching, what defenses do you have to let go of? What thing is unconfessed yet? What is the content of your inner trail? That'll become clear to you, then you must understand in the winter what to do about it. Do not busy about being shown to be seen by men. The winter season is not about that. It's about being still indoors, doing homework. It's about being watchful. It is about going into town purchasing the oil, so you can be welcome to the wedding. Winter season is about ironing your clothes so you can go to the wedding, and you are not approached by the master. Sowing the beauty of your own soul, then a beautiful life can be lived inside of yourself. But you must know how to turn your soil, how to be watchful, what price you’re willing to pay to purchase oil that you may not be part of the foolish, but part of wise virgins. Winter is a season of washing your clothes and pressing them and then in March, you start to get dressed again.
You should make your plans quickly about how you are going to get through the winter. What price are you willing to pay to acquire the oil that you can trim your lantern so you can turn up the flame and find your way to the front door of the bridegroom's house? What must you do? What must I do to inherit eternal life good master? The squirrels are leaving my tree. Not even bears want to hibernate around here. But do you know that bears give birth during hibernation? What little faith the children of God have. And the bear, with no food, gives birth to life. But the children God worry from one minute to the next. Believe and learn to trust God again in the winter, and you shall see springtime coming. Then you should write down on your pad what course of action you’re going to take. Just what are you going to do from today because in spring you do not want to enter back into the dark side of the soul anymore. Do you follow? Raise the standard. One says, "Oh, my standard is I do Pledge Service. I'm a good person. I'm staying with my spouse. Isn't it enough that I'm keeping my Blessing?" So? Anyway, you should write down on your pad what course of action you’re going to take because the midnight hour came with the shout, "The bridegroom comes." And the five wise went in and the door was shut.
So, turn your soil. Reflect. Be ready for you know not the hour. But you know the hours, eleven hours, and thus you have the advantage.
Life in stillness
Then what do you need examine? Where to look inside of oneself? As The Teachings have it: In silence and solitude, in the stillness, separating from all distraction, all addictions, cut off all fixations, feeding you, causing you to still live in the outer world of fulfillment. This is the transition from Autumn to Winter. The things you think you need, but listening inside yourself and to hear what it is that your life teaches you when you are alone and you cannot gain access to the things that make you feel good, but continue for your physical mind to be fed. Separate from those things and listen to what your life teaches you in the silence, in the solitude for a day or two. What do you feel inside? Just exactly what kind of loneliness comes up? What do you cry out for? Or do you look back on your life and to see what patterns obviously are there that only you see, but you never told anyone. What little weak links have you been evading in your life through which then you entered into the world of the four great realms of heart of Lucifer? You can't be with your brothers and sisters. You can't love your children. You can't be loved, didn’t receive love as a child, and you don't come here dressed properly, but you come in your ___?" He has no answer. And the master said, "Then I kick you out into the darkness where there shall be the gnashing of teeth." His mistake was not only that he came improperly prepared, but he had no explanation.
Finally, in heaven, what is the inner trail? What can you not let go of? What pretense? What leaves? What defenses? What excuses are being made not to stand naked? You cannot be here because you are not there inside of yourself, for the watchfulness is in pretense, only looking at the window. When shall he come? But meanwhile inside myself, I do not watch inwardly. I look only outwardly. I do not see myself. I'll see everyone else. I watch outwardly and do not confess up inside myself in autumn. Therefore, your winter is in pretense so do not expect the world life of spring to ever come. Should one not pass rightfully through repentance, Pentecost cannot come on that foundation. So, watch as the wise ones, keep oil. But how do you keep oil. You keep yourself right inside. You bring enough with you which means always being watchful internally in the winter season, understand truly what is wrong, be about self-correcting day to day.
Therefore, The Teachings have it: Each day, in every hour you have enough work. Every hour of the day is your offering. Each moment you must be one with your life. Paying attention not losing the moment where you can draw and learn.
Paying attention, not losing the moment where everything you do touch and see, everything you taste must be in honor of God. Respect everything, then in three days you will find your life changing. Internally everything changes for outwardly you made conditions symbolically by touching, speaking, whatever you do externally is done with a gesture of respect. I respect life and all that it has, even in troubled waters. At least I'm sailing and not sinking in the waters, as trouble may be. Those waters may be too shallow to keep your boat afloat. How do you sail a ship in dry water? It’s time for you to look at the compass, and to say, "I am held in the wrong direction." Do you follow?
Be grateful for the winter, this time feeling like you’re able to give birth. And be patient unlike Lucifer. Lucifer should have looked at himself, and asked himself, why do I desire Eve? Just exactly what is my attraction to her? And if I act on what I think, what will happen? Think of the result before you act for inside you know what shall happen.
“Nothing going on here. Let's go check out some other flowers." The bee says. One blossoms in pretense without the roots in the soil. Therefore, The Teachings about soil say that you must till and turn your soil so that when Son of men comes and sows in your soil, that seed takes root, sprouts and the plant grows. Do not let the foundation of the soil in your heart be bedrock. What is bedrock? What happens when you plant in thin topsoil? It is not a strong plant. How deep is the depth? How far can you plant, was the question? And the answer was, “You know the commandments.” You already know. Own up to what you do know and act. Raise your standard. Raise your standard of living. Do not accept the minimum of what one does spiritually, physically raise the bottom floor up and realize that the pain of violating your conscience should become great enough that you wish never to do it again.
One shall not enter into the direct dominion by tomorrow. One must have the desire for the liberty and freedom so much so that they do something. You can live through this life and miss the whole thing, right? Eighty years old, “What did he say forty years ago? Something about what? When you go to spiritual world and your first ancestor greets you and says," Where is the oil?" And then they say, "You forgot your little container of oil. You must go back.” That is returning resurrection.[vii]
You can do things in the winter, stay indoors and cry or go out making snow men. So, you can choose how you want to live in the winter. You can stay inside to be depressed, or you can go outdoors and enjoy it. Make a snow man, put a hat on the snow man, talk to him. Go skiing, go ice skating, that’s what the winter is about, not staying indoors moping, groping, and crying.
Now Comes Spring
This is only stable if we have done our homework in the winter season. Spring is a time in everyone mind’s eye. It is what? It is a time of beauty and joy. We feel better. We want to go outside, breath the air. We look forward to going to the ocean, walking, feeling the warmth of the sun on our face.
This is how it should be internally. The experience we have within ourselves should be fresh air and a sense of new life. Past fears are usually dissolved. The approach to life is that life is a joy to be lived. This is not to say that we do not go through hard, and sometimes traumatic times, however our approach to hardship begets learning and a deeper heart. Our new spring is solid as it has emerged from the long winter of reflection and coming to terms with ourselves.
In springtime we are living in a newfound innocence. The budding on a tree or a plant is awaking to the wonder of new life. This is how we feel in the spring season of life. If someone, and it is likely, comes along and stirs your sauce after you have been through the long winter of simmering, and now the flavor is just right, you are challenged to keep the taste in your mouth of the good flavor of your newfound life, or slip into the chef of the old. The chef of the old couldn’t cook well, remember. Spring is this way.
Summer
This is a time of fullness. We feel rich and confident. Summer is an experience of maturity and a sense of self that feels secure. You go out with confidence and show your colors. In summer, by presence in the moment, life is given to others. Even short sentences spoken will have power. The power comes from the work done in the winter. It is a silent spring from which living water flows.
ENDNOTES:
[i] The impression isn’t the literal definition of “fallen” as having dropped down. It is a reference to a breach in our growth process, so a misdirection of the mind occurs.
[ii] The word sin, in Aramaic means to miss the mark; figuratively entangled in webs like a thread.
[iii] The fallen archangel is not necessarily a spiritual entity. It may be the slope of self-deception or being fooled by cleaver words leading to one’s downfall.
[iv] Adam and Eve had an opportunity to integrate the earth’s forces in their body and mature the process of divine love which they left incomplete.
[v] Indemnity is a process whereby you are staging the situation to facilitate change. Examples of indemnity would be fasting before symptoms of being sick, caring for someone although you may have resistance in doing so or implementing a disciplining practice to advance your life.
[vi] The substantial manifestation of a couple whose marriage is grafted into God’s direct lineage.
[vii] A concept from Divine Principle whereby a spirit person has an obstacle which prevented them from completing their personal perfection/God’s will for their life. When the spirit person helps a person on earth, who has the same obstacle overcome that obstacle, both parties reap the spiritual benefit.
I opened my eyes and Jesus said,
Most honestly, I say to all of you, except that you are resurrected you cannot see the Kingdom of God. I have called you and you have heard my voice. Now in this Teaching please make perfected all the Teachings thus far.
In life you will, as I, journey through hills and deep valleys. There are seasons to your life cycles as well as to your internal moods in spirit. Except you know how to travel all the landscapes of the spiritual dimension, any one of the seasons can pull at you until you surrender to your fallen[i] self. This pull is to be met with the teachings of the four seasons. Do thus quickly and you shall live and have life more fully.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they Shall be Called the Children of God." In Aramaic to be a peacemaker is to create harmony between extremes.
The wheel of the Four Seasons of Faith enables us to become peacemakers. The wheel of the Four Seasons is an approach to life, especially when confronted with hardships under which we could buckle. Therefore, I ask in starting this Teaching, where are you now in your life? What if, after beginning the process of Learning to Trust, the rug slips from under your feet? How should you deal with your internal reality? What if you find your marriage on the rocks or find yourself addicted to something, or you feel resentful, lost, unloved, betrayed, searching for self-respect? Learning to Trust only takes you so far.
The Four Seasons of Faith assists each person to understand where they are internally and to know and understand how they can substantially move from there to the next step in their lives. To move we must understand how to extract the value out of the time and circumstances of our present reality. It's about learning and internalizing the specific spiritual, emotional or other kind of condition you’re in. This specific milieu tells us which season we’re in. It is vital to know how to successfully pass through the season and move to the next. The season is there for you with a character of its own to assist your healing.
Some of us instinctively understand the need for passing through the seasons but for some reason don’t act on the need to change. This is where the environment can assist us in seeing inside our reality. The universe is always trying to heal our lives, with God trying to restore our hearts to the ideal of love. Change is our opportunity to learn and grow. To change we must be honest about ourselves.
Autumn - The Beginning
In creation we see change occurring. The changing temperature of autumn causes the leaves to change color and the protection of the tree falls.
Yeshua said forty generations later,
The leaves do not fight to hold onto the season. They know they must give way to the forthcoming next step.
The Teachings say, it's better to look inside your spirit to see the reason why change is necessary and for you to be ready to surrender to it, because the environment (the judgment of the external) doesn’t afford the mercy you’d give yourself when seeking pardon by your original mind (higher self). This is because Creation can’t act with deliberate intention. At the minimum, creation can help us face issues of the spirit and body quite deeply; the environment can cause our roots to be yanked up. All of us at times have felt some force pulling up our roots - it’s kind of like having a root canal. Our circumstances press us deeper and deeper to extract the infected root. If we choose to ignore it, then the tooth must come out (and your smile won’t be as beautiful toothless).
Therefore, by self-confessing and surrendering to the confession, you will make a giant step into the autumn season. Surrendering to your confession may not be easy. However, as Jesus said forty generations later:
If one confesses and then denies the confession in the actions, what do we get but fruits that don't taste good. When one acts on the sin[ii], still even though they confessed, eventually they bear the fruits of the sin. In essence you've contradicted the confession that was given.
Yeshua said Forty Generations Later,
Please cast out the words of fallen Lucifer.[iii] In doing this, Lucifer loses his ground vertically.
We need to examine what the words of fallen Lucifer are saying, examine the “trash” of our lives, the no-hope road awaiting us, where we seek out pleasure to hide our pain, where we act without heart, believing that no one really cares, and so on. When there is confession from the heart, which is brought forth voluntarily, then the surrender of the self to the judgment/grace of the word, is a condition to change the direction of the mind vertically. This isn’t an absent-minded relationship with the Word (universal principle), rather a connection is made.
Confession from the heart frees a space that can then be occupied by universal truth. The fullness of what is unconfessed resists the arrival of liberating truth.
I don't believe Heaven punishes you if repeated mistakes occur. What might happen is that you become a spiritual basket case, at which point the need arises to act on the promise. Then when you act, the breath of grace will be with you. Or, the environment can act, challenging your life as a measure of the judgment/grace. We’ve all heard stories of those who change their lives after some big event, like a terrible illness or a car accident, the death of a loved one, or a near-death experience. These events are like phone calls saying it’s time to look inside your soul, cleanse yourself and find the gems of your life. Remember illness or accidents are not a punishment. Rather you can use it as an opportunity to look inside your soul and heal.
Some Religious Insight about Lucifer
This leads us to discussing the inherited results of the fall of man (the point where Adam and Eve[iv] “dropped the ball”), and the psychology of the so-called fallen mind.
In spiritual life we focus on the external “out there” forces we feel working on us, sometimes called ‘satanic’ influences. These forces pulling at us are attributed to the “father of the lie” or Lucifer. In extreme cases, people feel such shock and bewilderment at their actions they may claim, “The devil made me do it.” This is effectively a call for them to closely examine what internal crises are directing them to behavior for which they won’t claim responsibility. Many people understand that so-called fallen spirits (existing in the spiritual world) are wreaking havoc with their lives, but this really underscores their need to dig deep internally to understand and conquer these negative influences. We can change but changing requires an honest look at what is working in and through our lives. We cop out when we chalk it up to being possessed.
Important: While it is true that spiritual world does influence people on earth, it is half the story. Spirit people can assist you and disturbed spirit people can burden you. Finally you must rise to the occasion and examine internally what base you have to attract both sides. All people attract both sides - know this. It is not a judgement. Disturbed spirit people may want to be helped by you and you feel their imbalance for awhile. At the extreme end, possession can occur if your soul has a large enough fracture. By the same measure, if you are balanced and focusing on God in a pure way, high people in spirit world will be attracted to you.
The Residual
Lucifer was a good angel before he tempted Eve. The psychology of fallen Lucifer is to cause us to think that the problem is elsewhere, not in ourselves, and we have inherited the reasoning of this fallen way so much that it's part of our being. This is why religious life usually recommends a life of denial and purity to break away from habits and patterns that interfere with a spiritual way of life. To truly pave the way for the new to arrive, we must deny and forsake the old. It will probably feel lonely to finally let go of Lucifer's words to Eve, for man has become accustomed for tens of thousands of years to these words.
Yeshua has said,
Please do not listen to the inscription and read no longer, nor call back by memory, the fallen mind scriptures which says to eat when you should fast. For man does not live by bread alone (any form of temptation from fallen Lucifer), but from every word from the mouth of God.
Facing this word in the Autumn season means that we cannot ignore or explain away the truth staring us right in the face. The Escape Artist does this. The temptation is to turn stone to bread, yet man doesn’t live by bread alone (as Jesus reminded Lucifer when presented with the kingdom of the world if only he would turn stone to bread and renounce God, his Father). Yet our restoration lies in rejecting the fulfillment of physical/fallen mind. In a sense we are told to fast and not to eat the false food from fallen Lucifer.
Therefore, the casting out of Lucifer's teachings must come by way of judgment of his realm by true sons and daughters of God. Lucifer says, "Let me kiss you. And then I'll take off your shirt too." When we reject Lucifer’s call to us, we are free to meet Jesus, whom God sent as his first begotten son. Jesus is the first love of inheritance directly from God.
Jesus said forty generations later,
Whosoever would come, please do, all are welcome to come, step forward and receive, for the stepping forward will bring you into the reception in which the grafting will be taking place. Yes, by one thing people shall perish, the absence of love.
“I love you,” you may say, but you do not act on the love. “I love you,” you insist to the world and continue to live without resurrecting life in others.
Therefore, The Direct Teachings have it: Tell the truth and confess inside to yourself, bringing forth judgment by voluntarily submitting to your conscience that which cries out for the judgment. Then you’ll find yourself in the process of restitution. Not having first to face judgment, and next judgment comes giving you double judgment. Or at least it could be healthy to see it as that.
First is the judgment for not having confessed, (remember judgement is the process which sharpens consciousness) and a second judgment for saying that nothing was wrong. For having said right is wrong, and wrong is right. With this kind of mind game, the greater the risk grows to self-deprogram the True Mind, for you can’t believe in what’s right, yet deny it, then still feel good about it. Yet the “fallen” mind will seek evidence to prove truth is wrong and wrong is truth -- we actually become foreigners to our own True Mind. And we continue to hide even as the tree facing the winter might balk and say, "It's too cold, I can’t bare the pain of freezing, of being alone. The squirrels are not enough to take care of me by just burrowing a little hole in my tree, making a little home to hibernate in and bringing a few nuts in."
Nature is clear that we shouldn’t let go, we must keep the faith. The tree knows its own direction, it knows the seasons of growth; its inheritance is clear. When we are confused as to our direction (when we don’t know that there is inheritance), it becomes more difficult to resist the easy pull of Lucifer, always standing by offering a direction.
Lucifer completely failed his duty to help Adam and Eve go through the three early stages of growth. Lucifer jumped the gun by saying, "Let me snatch for myself now. I shall take away God’s treasure for myself. I won’t wait. Fast? Forget it, I want to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge right now. I'll give new knowledge to Eve: Good will become Evil and Evil will become Good.” That's why Satan comes from the word “Sata” to mislead, one big deception that plays very well internally.
The Work of the Blacksmith
Jesus said Forty Generations Later,
Therefore, the judgment of personality is to have the character forged like the iron in the heat. The Blacksmith with his hammer pounds the iron, and it is red and hot. Yes, you are burning inside, the pain in the soul is so great. And the great master shaping the iron comes with the hammer and pounds you until your shape is made right, even though you are burning inside. But the burning inside of you gives way to repentance, and confessing up, so that when you are constructed, your shape is changed. So, is it better you throw yourself into the fire? To be melted down. All of the impurity is be taken away as it is done with gold. Rather that than the hard, unmerciful Blacksmith comes. He puts the horseshoe in the fire and bangs and bangs and bangs it. And you say, “Enough already!” Bang, he hits the shoe again. Still the shape is not right. So, the master gets frustrated, he takes the hammer and hits the horse. Let it be the good master Blacksmith that helps you, not the unmerciful, frustrated one.
The Hard work of Autumn
Therefore, once we surrender, by our voluntary giving into the judgment of word, we set our mind on a straight, vertical path so that both our spiritual mind and our character find direction. So, we need to listen up and understand the Truth – but how to let go? We often impede our own progress by safely hiding behind various excuses and defenses, we “protect” ourselves from challenge. You’re being called now, gracefully. It may have been twenty years before you could be honest with yourself. Still here you are, knowing all your own suffering, offered the hand of grace and mercy. Now you’ll see that by confessing up in honesty you are staring at just exactly what you’ve been hiding from, internally.
Jesus asks through the Teachings Forty Generations Later,
What do the leaves on the tree say? What is the lesson to be learned from them? Why clothe yourself when you should stand naked and be seen? Notwithstanding, you are seen by God, and you are seen by your own conscience, unless you become the master of the escape, and your conscience has become destroyed. And wrong becomes right, and wrong is no longer seen by you as living wrong believing it's right. You escape your portion of responsibility.
Sometimes we find all of our effort is for naught because the effort we made and the forces of the energy were, in a certain sense, in pretense. You work and labor so many years, hard and long, sweating by the brow, and then, as The Teachings have said: Open your pocket and let’s examine the treasure that you have. Let’s see what kind of treasure is there. Shouldn’t you get benefit back from the investment put in the bank, for if you put in one thousand dollars, ten years later what should you have? You should have fifteen thousand dollars. But you go back, check your account, and end up only three thousand dollars. What happened?
Jesus Said Forty Generations Later,
Where is the benefit of the sacrificial life? Where has your investment been? Where is the foundation of the surrender, that surrendering to your sacrifice, that offering of indemnity[v] which begets progress? But let us look and examine where the progress is in your life. Show me the wholeness, the soundness of your life. Where is God in one's life? I am the resurrection Jesus said. Are you the resurrection? How do you pass from the death unto life? If so, then explain how it is done.
Resurrection means coming from death to life. In Aramaic it also means passing through a storm and peace is on the other side. We must understand the necessary steps by which we pass through death: first through autumn and through winter into the birth of the spring. Just exactly how do we get away from anguish, of feeling betrayal, distrust, loneliness, emptiness, frustration, unloved, rejected, left by the roadside damaged and bleeding, and nobody calls 911? How do we leave behind our own feeling of paralysis?
The spiritual mind says that we must understand how to come out of hiding, to stop escaping any normal life. The Fallen/Luciferian mind will insist that we stay in hiding: "No. Eat now. Partake of it." Yes, but be found full of Lucifer, in whatever aspect he assumes in your life – maybe it’s going to church, or tithing, studying Principle, all the things you’re doing. What is the one thing or group of things inside you that keep you from listening to your higher mind? What is the thing in your life to which you are still making love? God sees that which one day shall be illuminated into the outer trial; it’s true that all that is hidden shall be revealed. Therefore, it's better to reveal to your own conscience at this time. If you don’t reveal your own fallen nature to your conscience, you run the risk of being flushed out into the open standing naked, with your sin revealed to the person sitting next to you.
So, internally, what defenses and protections are you using thus hiding from yourself? What are you unwilling to examine, to look squarely face to face at the hidden sin, the secret things of which you tell no one? This is what must be let go of, because it is there that Lucifer lives quietly, like a fungus under floorboards. As with wood rust, the house will eventually collapse.
Jesus also taught that there is one more thing we must do: to give all that we have to the poor and follow Him. How would this be possible for us? How many of us could bear to part with our many attachments? Jesus asks that we stop seeking personal meaning from material things, for the dried leaves of fall gain no life by clinging to the naked tree in winter. We must stop our dependence on things, let them go if they are blocking you from God.
Jesus said forty generations later,
What things have you not done? What must you do to have eternal life? So, He asks, what are the commandments? Love God. Do not kill... The man with his material riches thought I cannot let go. This is too difficult for me. Therefore, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle, except it be by the power of God. For this man, it was impossible; but with God all things are possible. Therefore, one cannot pass through the eye of the needle, except it be with the power and assistance of God.
To have eternal life you must let go of all the leaves of autumn, stand naked, give up everything, and stand bare confessing up, looking squarely face to face at your own sin and transgressions, your own shame, your own hidden secret, the trail internally. It might be a hidden trail. And should you go to the spiritual world, you'll stand naked and then turn toward the Kingdom of God. You shall see things about having sex with the same sex; flirting with somebody else's spouse; going through the gate of heaven, resenting, hating, unforgiving, burning mad internally. Welcome me Father into the Kingdom with my spouse through the gate of heaven, resenting, hating, unforgiving, burning mad internally. Welcome me Father into the Kingdom of God, I am angry as all hell. ‘Do not bring hell into the heaven,’ say the gatekeepers.
First you must internally resolve the anger, the hate, the bitterness, and the inability to forgive, lest you bring it all to Heaven, for then what shall Heaven become but a reflection of yourself? Therefore, face, release and surrender it, for Jesus said, “the Kingdom of God is within you. Even as you bind on earth, so shall it be bound in heaven.”
Forty Generations Later He said,
So now is time to own up, confess up, to stand up, and to be found naked, exposed to your own conscience.
Examine what exactly you’re holding onto. See why you can’t get through the eye of the needle to be birthed into the other side of life where you’ll find innocence, pure gold, the strong substantial substance of your character so that when you speak, your word and your character become one. Then you don’t need to say, "Do as I say, but not as I do." This takes us back to Honesty, the First Teaching, back to letting go, being honest to oneself. Only when you have traced your life and looked squarely in the face of your personal life will the “environment” of your life appear as the last autumn leaves clinging to the tree, and there you'll be standing naked, with no excuse.
The Wedding and Proper Dress - What it means to prepare
There was a wedding to which many guests were invited and were gathered. The master (the bridegroom) came. All of the invited guests are there, all dressed in the proper attire. But the one man, he came improperly prepared, and he had no explanation. The master gave him a chance to own up, and to say, "Great king I'm sorry. I am before you improperly clothed. Mercy, I ask." And mercy would’ve been given.
Should one be found with the wrong clothing, at least have a reason.
Why should I wear good clothes before you? Do you understand? Not ironing yourself out or respecting the groom to be the King. "Why should I get dressed up to come before you? As if to say, why do I prepare my internal condition? Let me come with my trash, with an inner trial of betrayal to God and still be welcome at the wedding. At least say, "Father, yes it's true I am improperly clothed. But every time I send my suit to the dry cleaners, it still comes back wrinkles and dirty. I'm trying. I don't know what’s with wrong with the dry cleaners. Every time I try to iron, the wrinkle does not come out. But I am trying." And then, at least Father can say, "Show me your suit and here’s the iron. Let's understand together the problem of the wrinkles and you shall not be thrown out into darkness. Do you understand? So, the first Teaching today of the Four Seasons is: Where are you? Just exactly what type of ground are you standing on with regards to your spiritual life?
For when the wind and trouble come, just exactly how strong shall one be? Shall you know how to steer and to navigate? You cannot control everything, even as a captain cannot control the force of the waters of the trouble of the world. Then you must find your compass, turning the wheel to make changes. Do not worry about troubled waters if you have a compass. But how can you find the compass if you have Satan steering the ship?
Winter Season – Time of hibernation and serious reflection, a time of distilling.
And then the winter seasons comes. It's the place nobody wants to go. When one’s self-defense lets go of their ego which asks for gratification, protection, and shielding, so on. Autumn is the biggest problem, not being able to let go and surrender to the sacrifice. Holding on so desperately. Holding on. How can one be born except that they die? Isn't the question, (metaphorically speaking) how to die, not how to be born? The question is how to die and be buried, and then to be resurrected. It is a time of introspection looking inwardly very carefully. And yet in the inward looking one maybe provoked into anxiety for what they find they may rather not look at or they become unsettled.
The Winter Season is the beginning of finding clarity and hearing the voice of God calling. It can feel like no one is home because winter is barren. Practice silence and learn to listen. You may feel as if you are abandoned, but you have a certain amount of faith because you did let go. The leaves shed and the tree stands naked before all things. Internally, as winter develops, you feel cold inside; you do not feel loved. In wintertime, the lesson is of turning inward.
In the time of winter, one feels cold inside, one does not feel loved, one may not feel accepted, one does not feel nurtured. It is a time of waiting. In the winter you should expect nothing except maybe a few squirrels running around; maybe have an opportunity to have a few nuts bounce off your branch. And that's all. It's a time of patience but should one not have a patience, because of the long way to the spring, one comes out of the winter season into the artificial spring and pretends that all is well. That I'm living in the right environment now so that I don't have to face the pain of the coldness resultant from the things I have done wrong, things I thought wrong, things I felt wrong. Looking at them creates pain inside of the soul. It is cold in winter. So long waiting for warmth and to feel loved, so long waiting for color in my life. So long wanting to get out of the gray life. Everything looks gray when you are color blind, where it seems as if I shall not take interest any longer in anything. “Nothing makes me happy. There is no joy in anything which I do. I cannot be reached no matter what. I cannot be reached no matter what it is. I cannot be touched. I am trapped inside like the wintertime.”
Though in the winter, even trees have squirrels running around. Winter is the time to be satisfied with the minimum, next to nothing but bare survival as with the hibernating animals. But what is the faith that is required in the winter season, not knowing the sum of what the day shall be? How long can one wait? How long must one endure before they feel some light is coming to them? The introspection, that looking, that working off of your own reserves internally. Saving your life as if fasting off of your own body, says the bear. Do you follow?
One acts too quickly and jumps into spring, and since it's not real - how long will it last? When the challenge comes you own up, you are found without treasure to show, to be found fake internally, because you do not deserve the goods to the spring season. There's no fragrance, there's no beauty, there's no picking up the flowers to bring home because on the inside that person really still is in the winter season.
Therefore, one becomes dishonest and depends on themselves to continue hiding when they should be coming face to face with themselves by the beaming light of true life. You cannot be comfortable. You cannot eat the cake. You cannot be part of the great wedding for you feel you should not be there. You cannot celebrate for the judgment of the wedding itself draws you out, doesn't it? You receive gifts from others when you say to yourself, “I'm unworthy to receive these gifts.” You feel that you cannot even use them. So, of the ten, the wise ones were prepared for they were vigilant, their lamps did not burn out. They kept extra oil, didn't they? Where is your reserve? Where did you store up your treasure upon which to draw from?
How deep is your reasoning for holding on?
Don't be scared. Don't scare the dough. You work the flour. You knead it, you pound it, and then you put a moist clothe over it, and leave it, don't you? You don't touch it again. Let the yeast work. Let the yeast of winter work in your life. Don't scare the dough and watch that miracle work. The bread shall rise and then you can eat the bread which came down from heaven. Don't be scared. You are the dough. The yeast is honesty bringing into the acceptance of the word, and then time is that bread.
And the wise answered, you cannot take it from me for there shall not be enough for us and for you so go to those who sell oil in town. So they go, and come back, and the door was shut. They hear the music. They called, they cried, they pounded on the door, and the bridegroom said, "Go away. You cannot be here.”
Ask yourself, are you drawn to the temporary as opposed to entering that heavenly retreat into oneself? Stop living a life of pretense, the overly religious life, realizing you crossed over to the left side of the road where you cannot help the wounded one who was robbed and beaten. The priest came along the road ... but the one without pretense comes by - the good Samaritan. He picks him up and brings him to the inn and leaves his money with the caretaker that he'll be taken care of.
In the winter season, you study why you crossed over to the other side. It is time also to cross back over. It is a time of the teachings of the parable of what? Of the ten virgins. Be therefore ready when the son of men comes, when you shall be visited by God, face to face with True Parents[vi], face to face with God.
Therefore, where is your reservoir? How deep can you reach into your soul and draw out something of value, something of significance? How deep is your belief in yourself? Where and how deep is the reservoir of yourself? How deep is your belief cherishing the life in which you live the life of self-denial? Where and how deep is the reservoir from which you can drink? Or shall you come up short, begging to breathe the dust of the desert.
Therefore, the winter season is to be watchful, and to start to look inside for when the bridegroom comes at the midnight hour unannounced, He is here. The faithful start to look inside in preparation for the bridegroom. The foolish ones, they have to leave. They have no oil left. I cannot trim my wick or turn up my light for I am short of oil. Please, to the five wise, give me the oil that I may turn up my light and go in and be part of the wedding feast. And the wise ones saw them by their fruits. Now, a good tree does not bring (false) bad fruits. It brings good quality. But you must care for the tree. Prune it, check the roots, the soil. And does not the tree also need the seasons? Rain, sunshine, and worms to move the soil as The Teachings have it in the parable of the soil. What soil do you have for the roots of life to be planted into you? And what fruits can you bear should your soil not be turned and nourished? The leaves fall and in that falling of the leaves, they may be turned into the soil to feed your roots. So, letting go is a cherished thing. The letting go is a great thing. Being naked is a great thing. But one must be patient during that time and not become frustrated. Do not be found as the foolish virgins. Do you understand?
Don't Give Up
For in you made holy by way of the holy wine ceremony. So, you are virgins. But are you wise or foolish? And when the moment of calling comes, what can you show? How do you own up before God?
A widow went to the judge. Help me, she says. The judge, he couldn’t care less about God, nor does he respect men. He doesn’t care about public opinion. He told the widow, Go away. She has nothing but she needs mercy and protection from the judge of the town. Shamelessly she petitions again, please help me. And finally, he does. Not because he's been changed. Not because he respects God or respects people, but by her persistence. The widow left with nothing but one coin, and she gave it. And the one with hundred dollars gave five coins. Who gave more? What do you think? Yes, she gave all what she had. Can you give all you have in the winter season by being watchful? And then the judge said, "I will help you.” Again, not because he's changed but because of the complete investment of all she had in her heart.
And how much more would God do for you? How much more would God help you in your winter season?
And there is a man. He receives his guest at ten o'clock at night where in Palestine it is very hot during summertime, so you travel by night. And his guest suddenly appears, and he's found without bread. How shall I break bread with my guest? So, he goes to his neighbor’s house and bangs on the door. The door is answered, “My friend, my guest is here. I wish to break a bread with them. Would you please loan me some bread?” Shamelessly, shamelessly he asks, please! And he gets the bread. The neighbor never says, "My friend go home." He just says, "Go home." He received the bread because of shameless persistence.
Jesus said explaining a parable during his life, Ask, and you'll receive. Seek, and you'll find. Knock, and the door will be opened. And should someone ask you for fish, you would not give him serpent. Tonight, I have no bread and the person who answered the door says, " I'm sorry. Don't bother me now. I’ve been asleep and you woke me. My wife was sleeping, and you disturbed my children also. Go home don't bother me tonight." And he closed the door not being one with God, not know what good things to give to those who ask you. How much more would God give good things to those that ask him in the winter season? Faith, that hope of things to come not yet attained. How little is one's faith. People in the world persist and they get, but sons and daughters of God do not believe that their Father shall give to them. Do you follow? "
What is faith? In the winter season watch therefore yourself internally and examine the quality of your oil so your light can burn. Do not be found without oil. Yes, it means springtime will come. You've got a blossom when the time comes for the bud to open. Then what happens? The bees come looking for the nectar and they say, "Nothing here. Nothing good happening here. No. This flower seems one of those flowers that came from the green house or the florist.” Do you know those type? Forced to open and put in the refrigerator and dies in five days.
How deep is the depth of your soil? How far can you reach into your soul? Put your hand into the soil of your soul and tell me what is the measure of the depth of your topsoil? When the wind comes, is the plant is uprooted? When rains fall, do the roots come up? Situations happen that plow through your life and turn your soil for you. Doesn't it happen? You get smacked in the face, and you wake up. That is the judgement of the environment as I spoke to you about in the beginning. If you don’t turn your own soil, someone will come and plow your soil for you. And you will say, "It's hurts. Please stop." It’ll continue anyway. Then after the plowman has his way, the Son of Man can come and scatter seeds. You see, all things work for the purpose of good. Do you understand?
So, in the winter season (in the washing) is the work of honesty born out of the autumn which turns your soil until you turn the soil yourself. All things can work together for the purpose of good. All suffering, all misery, all heart break, all let downs. If you have a right internal structure, all things work for the purpose of good if you understand how to turn your own soil.
He said Forty Generations Later,
Therefore, the winter season is the time of watchfulness, preparation, patience, turning the soil, so you can begin to plant. You plant your seeds in early spring that you have food to eat during the summer, and for others."
Have faith like the widow. Be persistent but be true and honest in your persistence. Be honest to God and then how much more would God want to meet you?
Do you know how much energy is required to staying a fake, to keep up a façade? To keep the show going requires a lot of energy on behalf of the person. Eventually this person will break. Before the winter season is the work of turning the soil so in the beginning of spring seeds can sprout. All I have is this one coin, Father. I give this last coin to you. You want to break bread but shamelessly your intention must be pure and honest. You beg at the door of next neighbor, “please loan me.” He doesn't give, but you’re innocent and true. And remember that God already believes in you before the winter comes.
Then reflect on things and understand from the first Teaching, what defenses do you have to let go of? What thing is unconfessed yet? What is the content of your inner trail? That'll become clear to you, then you must understand in the winter what to do about it. Do not busy about being shown to be seen by men. The winter season is not about that. It's about being still indoors, doing homework. It's about being watchful. It is about going into town purchasing the oil, so you can be welcome to the wedding. Winter season is about ironing your clothes so you can go to the wedding, and you are not approached by the master. Sowing the beauty of your own soul, then a beautiful life can be lived inside of yourself. But you must know how to turn your soil, how to be watchful, what price you’re willing to pay to purchase oil that you may not be part of the foolish, but part of wise virgins. Winter is a season of washing your clothes and pressing them and then in March, you start to get dressed again.
You should make your plans quickly about how you are going to get through the winter. What price are you willing to pay to acquire the oil that you can trim your lantern so you can turn up the flame and find your way to the front door of the bridegroom's house? What must you do? What must I do to inherit eternal life good master? The squirrels are leaving my tree. Not even bears want to hibernate around here. But do you know that bears give birth during hibernation? What little faith the children of God have. And the bear, with no food, gives birth to life. But the children God worry from one minute to the next. Believe and learn to trust God again in the winter, and you shall see springtime coming. Then you should write down on your pad what course of action you’re going to take. Just what are you going to do from today because in spring you do not want to enter back into the dark side of the soul anymore. Do you follow? Raise the standard. One says, "Oh, my standard is I do Pledge Service. I'm a good person. I'm staying with my spouse. Isn't it enough that I'm keeping my Blessing?" So? Anyway, you should write down on your pad what course of action you’re going to take because the midnight hour came with the shout, "The bridegroom comes." And the five wise went in and the door was shut.
So, turn your soil. Reflect. Be ready for you know not the hour. But you know the hours, eleven hours, and thus you have the advantage.
Life in stillness
Then what do you need examine? Where to look inside of oneself? As The Teachings have it: In silence and solitude, in the stillness, separating from all distraction, all addictions, cut off all fixations, feeding you, causing you to still live in the outer world of fulfillment. This is the transition from Autumn to Winter. The things you think you need, but listening inside yourself and to hear what it is that your life teaches you when you are alone and you cannot gain access to the things that make you feel good, but continue for your physical mind to be fed. Separate from those things and listen to what your life teaches you in the silence, in the solitude for a day or two. What do you feel inside? Just exactly what kind of loneliness comes up? What do you cry out for? Or do you look back on your life and to see what patterns obviously are there that only you see, but you never told anyone. What little weak links have you been evading in your life through which then you entered into the world of the four great realms of heart of Lucifer? You can't be with your brothers and sisters. You can't love your children. You can't be loved, didn’t receive love as a child, and you don't come here dressed properly, but you come in your ___?" He has no answer. And the master said, "Then I kick you out into the darkness where there shall be the gnashing of teeth." His mistake was not only that he came improperly prepared, but he had no explanation.
Finally, in heaven, what is the inner trail? What can you not let go of? What pretense? What leaves? What defenses? What excuses are being made not to stand naked? You cannot be here because you are not there inside of yourself, for the watchfulness is in pretense, only looking at the window. When shall he come? But meanwhile inside myself, I do not watch inwardly. I look only outwardly. I do not see myself. I'll see everyone else. I watch outwardly and do not confess up inside myself in autumn. Therefore, your winter is in pretense so do not expect the world life of spring to ever come. Should one not pass rightfully through repentance, Pentecost cannot come on that foundation. So, watch as the wise ones, keep oil. But how do you keep oil. You keep yourself right inside. You bring enough with you which means always being watchful internally in the winter season, understand truly what is wrong, be about self-correcting day to day.
Therefore, The Teachings have it: Each day, in every hour you have enough work. Every hour of the day is your offering. Each moment you must be one with your life. Paying attention not losing the moment where you can draw and learn.
Paying attention, not losing the moment where everything you do touch and see, everything you taste must be in honor of God. Respect everything, then in three days you will find your life changing. Internally everything changes for outwardly you made conditions symbolically by touching, speaking, whatever you do externally is done with a gesture of respect. I respect life and all that it has, even in troubled waters. At least I'm sailing and not sinking in the waters, as trouble may be. Those waters may be too shallow to keep your boat afloat. How do you sail a ship in dry water? It’s time for you to look at the compass, and to say, "I am held in the wrong direction." Do you follow?
Be grateful for the winter, this time feeling like you’re able to give birth. And be patient unlike Lucifer. Lucifer should have looked at himself, and asked himself, why do I desire Eve? Just exactly what is my attraction to her? And if I act on what I think, what will happen? Think of the result before you act for inside you know what shall happen.
“Nothing going on here. Let's go check out some other flowers." The bee says. One blossoms in pretense without the roots in the soil. Therefore, The Teachings about soil say that you must till and turn your soil so that when Son of men comes and sows in your soil, that seed takes root, sprouts and the plant grows. Do not let the foundation of the soil in your heart be bedrock. What is bedrock? What happens when you plant in thin topsoil? It is not a strong plant. How deep is the depth? How far can you plant, was the question? And the answer was, “You know the commandments.” You already know. Own up to what you do know and act. Raise your standard. Raise your standard of living. Do not accept the minimum of what one does spiritually, physically raise the bottom floor up and realize that the pain of violating your conscience should become great enough that you wish never to do it again.
One shall not enter into the direct dominion by tomorrow. One must have the desire for the liberty and freedom so much so that they do something. You can live through this life and miss the whole thing, right? Eighty years old, “What did he say forty years ago? Something about what? When you go to spiritual world and your first ancestor greets you and says," Where is the oil?" And then they say, "You forgot your little container of oil. You must go back.” That is returning resurrection.[vii]
You can do things in the winter, stay indoors and cry or go out making snow men. So, you can choose how you want to live in the winter. You can stay inside to be depressed, or you can go outdoors and enjoy it. Make a snow man, put a hat on the snow man, talk to him. Go skiing, go ice skating, that’s what the winter is about, not staying indoors moping, groping, and crying.
Now Comes Spring
This is only stable if we have done our homework in the winter season. Spring is a time in everyone mind’s eye. It is what? It is a time of beauty and joy. We feel better. We want to go outside, breath the air. We look forward to going to the ocean, walking, feeling the warmth of the sun on our face.
This is how it should be internally. The experience we have within ourselves should be fresh air and a sense of new life. Past fears are usually dissolved. The approach to life is that life is a joy to be lived. This is not to say that we do not go through hard, and sometimes traumatic times, however our approach to hardship begets learning and a deeper heart. Our new spring is solid as it has emerged from the long winter of reflection and coming to terms with ourselves.
In springtime we are living in a newfound innocence. The budding on a tree or a plant is awaking to the wonder of new life. This is how we feel in the spring season of life. If someone, and it is likely, comes along and stirs your sauce after you have been through the long winter of simmering, and now the flavor is just right, you are challenged to keep the taste in your mouth of the good flavor of your newfound life, or slip into the chef of the old. The chef of the old couldn’t cook well, remember. Spring is this way.
Summer
This is a time of fullness. We feel rich and confident. Summer is an experience of maturity and a sense of self that feels secure. You go out with confidence and show your colors. In summer, by presence in the moment, life is given to others. Even short sentences spoken will have power. The power comes from the work done in the winter. It is a silent spring from which living water flows.
ENDNOTES:
[i] The impression isn’t the literal definition of “fallen” as having dropped down. It is a reference to a breach in our growth process, so a misdirection of the mind occurs.
[ii] The word sin, in Aramaic means to miss the mark; figuratively entangled in webs like a thread.
[iii] The fallen archangel is not necessarily a spiritual entity. It may be the slope of self-deception or being fooled by cleaver words leading to one’s downfall.
[iv] Adam and Eve had an opportunity to integrate the earth’s forces in their body and mature the process of divine love which they left incomplete.
[v] Indemnity is a process whereby you are staging the situation to facilitate change. Examples of indemnity would be fasting before symptoms of being sick, caring for someone although you may have resistance in doing so or implementing a disciplining practice to advance your life.
[vi] The substantial manifestation of a couple whose marriage is grafted into God’s direct lineage.
[vii] A concept from Divine Principle whereby a spirit person has an obstacle which prevented them from completing their personal perfection/God’s will for their life. When the spirit person helps a person on earth, who has the same obstacle overcome that obstacle, both parties reap the spiritual benefit.