No matter what the sophisticated or old-fashioned method of consciousness expansion a person tries, what spiritual growth really seems to boil down to is a lot of trial and error and being able to deal with a lot of disappointment when we see ourselves fall short of our ideals. Would you speak to the idea that there really don’t seem to be any shortcuts in spiritual growth, and to the part that disappointment and faith play in the path of the seeker of truth?

(Carla channeling)

I am Q’uo. Greetings in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, on whose behalf we have been called here to manifest those thoughts of love and light that may perhaps find a ready listening ear, so that we may be of some small service. For this to be possible is the height of our hope at this particular point in our development, and we cannot thank you enough for enabling us to speak through this instrument.

Upon this subject, the subject of the spiritual journey, [it] is one which we could begin speaking of in one way, find another way of gazing at the same experience, and in always relevant fashion we would be unable to exhaust the ways in which one may gaze at and imagine the true structure of the spiritual journey. That is, there is nothing particularly spiritual about the journey. It, like any other ordeal, is a matter of certain, shall we say, natural laws with the ever-balancing axis at ninety degrees, always, to those laws of the unpredictability of free will.

But this evening you have chosen to gaze at the spiritual journey in terms of time commitment, in terms of whether by taking thought one might accelerate the pace of spiritual growth. My children, if we of Q’uo did not believe that it were possible to accelerate the spiritual growth of careful and persistent students by means of inspirational messages, we would not be working with this instrument, for it is no part of our intention to waste our time. However, the truth is that it is extremely possible; that is, it is possible in almost any degree desired by the entity to accelerate the pace of spiritual growth. The difficulty from within the illusion is that a particularly difficult manifestation of accelerated spiritual growth is emotional pain, irritation with oneself for having failed, and other negative emotions.

The extremely simple reason for the seeming paradox is that in times of greatly accelerated growth, large-scale changes are being made in the road map of various portions of the program and metaprogram of the mind, and, especially when these changes have reached the initiatory or metaprogrammic phase, many, many feelings, actions and so forth will seem to have been those of an oversensitive, immature and imbalanced person. This person will consider itself the least of all those who seek, for it is not manifesting cheerfulness, gaiety, merriment and freedom, but, rather, suffering under a burden.

However, when the memory has wound its golden bands about these times, and that which you call time has elapsed so that one may gaze back upon that golden-shrouded memory, one may see again and again the rapidity of growth side by side and inexorably tied to the most nauseating and humiliating of failures. It is for this reason that within the illusion it is most often felt that there are no short cuts, and that one must simply bumble along by trial and error.

In point of fact, when working with the deeper programming of the metaconsciousness, the movement of feeling within may be in such a powerful way that it may seem irresistible and perhaps counter to usual politeness. These expressions, however, are to be credited as part of the mind, not part of something called hysteria or emotions, but rather those times when the metaprogram has once and for all time changed a deep, deep program. There will be some sort of release from such a deep change that you do not understand it, and the fact that you may, perhaps, be disappointed in yourself must be accepted by you as a condition of your attempt to live a life based upon the faith that there is, indeed, a kindly Creator, a Creator made of love, which loved us first, and to Whom our response is faith.

Now, with those things said about the difficulties of progression and the lack of shortcuts being incorrect, let us say that a person does, indeed, use tools to move himself toward such a time of vision, a time of initiation, a time of change and metamorphosis. A person may use the techniques of deprivation known in many, many systems of expression toward the infinite Creator—the fasting, the changing of the daily routine to one of silence and devotion. All those daily acts of meditation and worship, whether it be for a moment or for a minute or for an hour, in their dailyness they keep you, the pilgrim soldier, upon the road. You are battling something you may well call disappointment. We would prefer to call it the uninformed intellectual mind. Your minds, my children, are very, very full of those opinions based only upon what this instrument would call conventional wisdom. Within your heart are stored the natural laws. It is well to know how to act lawfully within your society. It is well to act lawfully within that society.

It is also extremely well for you as a spiritual self to know who you are and who that individual that carries you around is. This is most important to you. If you do not know the large bipedal animal upon which you so depend, if you do not appreciate it, provide well for it, accept it, nurture it, and take care of it, then you as a consciousness will find it more and more difficult to spend intensity and time upon the spiritual search.

So, let yourself be the nurturer of yourself. When you are disappointed in yourself, let your nurturing self remember that you are only disappointed within the illusion. You have no idea, my children, of what a blessing your hopes, your intentions, and your ideals are. The light of those ideals is the light of your planet. Your zest for truth, your fidelity to the Creator, your living by faith and never by words; these things go beyond that self that carries you about. These things are what you really are: a being of faith. In times of disappointment, allow that being to nurture, protect, comfort and soothe you, for it is difficult to move quicker than the body is ready to go, than the mind is ready to move. It is a hard thing to change, and, indeed, it should be carefully resisted. Each change should be seen, considered and approved by your discriminating and entire self, a self always informed and centered by daily meditation.

To sum up, my children, each of you has spent many years accelerating the course of spiritual growth. Each of you has seen the most fruits come into manifestation in the midst of iniquity, error, mistake after mistake, and self-perceived sin. Each is able to see that compassion has grown during pain, beyond one’s limits, and beyond the pale of that which would not disappoint one. Yes, you shall disappoint yourself again and again, and may we say, the more you disappoint yourself, the more you are trying to do, and the more we salute your brave spirit. Never, ever, allow the words that your mind can create to attack your faith and your hope that all that is painful will also be fruitful, and all that is difficult will also become that which is golden, that which brings the compassion to the heart, the understanding to the mind. For at the end of each and every failure, at the end of each and every limitation, once accepted and forgiven, can the self find the corresponding compassion for that same limitation in each and every other human being which it encounters in the same situation.

May you grow sweeter through adversity, and, most of all, may we say perhaps our greatest hint to you, as those who would like to continue speeding up the rate of acceleration or growth spiritually, learn to work as hard during those times perceived as positive as those times perceived as negative, and the negative events shall not need to occur.

In order to gain from the positive, one must do what would be impossible were not one familiar with negativity, that is, one must push against one’s own standards of excellence, attempting at all times to give more and more praise to the Creator, more and more of one’s conscious hours, attempting more and more, in moving into the sleep pattern, to program the self for the learning, and the setting of new metaprograms closer to the one great original Thought. Do these things faithfully. Work during the easy, the happy, the contented, and the peaceful times, and your lives shall become ever more peaceful and contented. The work must be done, my children. You have designed this into your incarnations. You yourselves will judge yourselves at the end. Yes, it shall be as the greater Self, but it shall be you, specifically and personally, that must riffle the pages of this incarnation.

Claim your disappointments now. Face them and learn from them and grow sweet with compassion. In this way, may the disappointment at seeming failure become, appropriately and in a balanced fashion, appreciation of and forgiveness of one’s limitations, of the history and the tracks of one’s change into an impersonal source of love. Then when, without the veil, you stand and gaze upon your life you shall see that you were aware, that there is no such thing as Earthly disappointment, but only the sounds, the experiences, the side products, the pain, and the difficulties of transformation. May you intend always the highest and best that you know, and may each limitation, disappointment and seeming failure become for you the opportunity of self-forgiveness, appreciation of yourself, and the nurturing of your growing spirit.

We would at this time close the session through the instrument known as Jim. We leave this instrument with thanks and love and light. I am known to you as Q’uo.

(Jim channeling)

I am Q’uo, and greet each again in love and light through this instrument. At this time it is our privilege to ask if we might respond to any queries which remain upon the minds of those gathered this evening.

Yes, I have a question. This maybe—I don’t know, it almost seems like what we’re doing here right now, channeling—but my question is, could you comment on spirit guides and how do you know when what you’re seeming to be getting is real, other than it just feels right. That may be the answer. Anyway, would you comment, please?

I am Q’uo, and we are happy to speak to this subject, my brother. Indeed, we know of no way that the contact with those entities which you call the spirit guides can be proven in an unshakable way, for all that is of value, in our opinion, within your illusion, rests within the boundaries of mystery. And when one attempts to grasp firmly any concept or quality of value, such as purity, truth, beauty, goodness, mercy, forgiveness, one moves through the quality and discovers that there is nothing that can be known without doubt.

We are in agreement, my brother, that the most helpful means for giving assurance to the seeker that a communication has occurred betwixt it and those who watch over its evolutionary process may be determined through the feeling that is the response from the seeker when it has felt or become aware of a communication, whether that communication is understandable or not, for many times there are communications that are not perceived by the seeker that come from those entities that have the honor and the responsibility of serving as the guide or teacher in an unseen manner for the incarnate third density entity. Indeed, there are many, many experiences which each of you undergo each of your days which have been touched and guided by those unseen spirits that are ever-watchful [for] the opportunity to present the student with an illustration, an inspiration, a guiding hand, a warning whisper. There are many times that the coincidences of one’s life pattern become more apparent and the seeker then will begin to wonder to itself if there might be a larger hand within the plan of the daily round of activities.

Again, from time to time when the moment is appropriate for the seeker’s growth, there may be given to the seeker a confirmation of one kind or another that is given by those we are calling guides. The book or person or event that is placed within the seeker’s notice at the appropriate moment is the most usual means by which such guidance occurs, for within the life pattern of each seeker, there are, shall we say, imbedded or programmed the opportunities that will open a new avenue of seeking, perhaps of serving, always of learning. And these avenues are oftentimes triggered, shall we say, by a combination of events which are both rooted within this illusion and without this illusion, as the preincarnative choices of the seeker meet the opportunities that have had the guiding hand propel them in just such a manner that the desired meeting then occurs, and from this point, the free will of the seeker to respond is paramount, and at this point, it is the seeker itself which proceeds upon this particular portion of the journey, having previously set the groundwork, shall we say, and prepared the self for the reception of certain impulses or ideas that will then become seeds that will produce a continuing interest in the seeker.

May we speak in any further fashion, my brother?

No, thank you, that’s fine. Thank you very much.

I am Q’uo, and we thank you, my brother. Is there another query?

I had a couple. One was about the term, metaprogram. I haven’t run into it before, and I was thinking about physics versus metaphysics. Unfortunately, the only reason it was called metaphysics was that the books were next to the physics books on the shelf, and meta is Greek for “next,” and it was named that at Alexandria, so that doesn’t make too much sense. But I think meta means sort of “beside,” okay, so you’re saying metaprogram, so it’s a program beside that program which is in our conscious mind, so I was thinking, well, what would that be? And then I thought, well, it’s the computer that makes up our computer, that puts the stuff in our computer in the first place. Like, if we changed the metaprogram, the program would change in a lot of different, subtle ways, because it would be changing our basic biases, and that would mean that the metaprogram was that personality of ours that does survive, and it’s the personality of the spirit. Now, do you have any comments on any of these things? Am I in any way correct? Or what is a metaprogram, as opposed to a program, in the mind?

I am Q’uo, and if we have perceived your query correctly, we would equate the metaprogram with the preincarnative choices that have been chosen by each seeker, that there may be the opportunities for learning and then the reciprocal opportunities for serving according to that which has been learned in the life pattern. The programming of such opportunities consists, in general, in the imbedding, shall we say, of certain biases with the subconscious mind and in the conscious mind, when helpful, as well, that will allow opportunities of a certain nature to occur when these biases come in contact with a certain set of circumstances.

For example, if an entity has, for a number of its incarnations, concerned itself with the concept of abundance and its opposite, that being the seeming lack of abundance, then the degree of progress, shall we say, that has been achieved in the mental attitude that sees some degree of abundance or lack of abundance within all situations will be triggered when there is the coincidence of a situation where there is the need for enough of one quality or another, substance or another, to be present within the life pattern for the seeker to feel a certain degree of satisfaction or comfort or the feeling that it is cared for, provided for, and is secure.

Thus, as the seeker moves through various circumstances where it finds itself in need of more of a quality or commodity, then will its programming be triggered so that its attitude will be brought to bear upon the situation which is, in itself, relatively neutral, the coloration of an emotional nature coming primarily from the subconscious mind, according to the program of the seeker.

Thus, the metaprogram, or preincarnative choice, will allow the seeker to pursue the degree of balance that it has chosen previous to the incarnation, and to continue to refining, or in many cases, simply approaching, this degree of balance that will allow the seeker to achieve the goal which it has set for itself prior to the incarnation.

May we speak in any further fashion, my sister?

If you would, I have another completely different question. Thank you for the answer to that one. I’ll enjoy reading it. The other question, I’m honestly a little bit baffled by, because I got a Christmas card from a perfectly lovely lady, but she does something that has through the years irritated me more and more every time, and I guess I’m just getting old and judgmental. But she’s a perfectly well-grown-up woman, and instead of saying, “A relationship I’d put a lot in on failed, but I was really lucky; I fell in love with somebody else that same year,” she had to say that she had done a great deal of work with this wonderful person, but that they had talked together and decided that their work during this incarnation had come to an end, and so they blessed each other and went their separate ways.

And there’s a lot of that sort of thing going around, where people try to take every single bit of guilt or wrongdoing off of people leaving each other. And they just don’t accept the fact that there’s been a failure of any kind. They figure, well, they just had all these different people that they had karmic ties with, that they had to clean up in one incarnation, and that’s why they’ve been sluts or womanizers or whatever, and it just never did ring true to me, cause it seemed to me that what somebody was doing was just doing the same lesson over and over and over again, and it didn’t seem to me to be like cleaning up karma at all; it seemed to me to be like making the same error or failing each and every time and not owning up to it. And I need to write people like this with compassion, because a lot of people that I speak with talk with this sort of vocabulary, and I’d really appreciate your showing me where I’ve gone off the track.

I am Q’uo, and am aware of your query, my sister. May we begin by reminding each present that no matter what the lesson that is attempted during any incarnation within your third-density illusion, each is attempted imperfectly, each is imperfectly perceived, and each is only approached in the ideal, to some degree or another. For within your illusion, it is not possible, as far as we are aware, that one may become absolutely certain, without any shadow of doubt, as to the true nature of any particular lesson, for the mystery of the Creator is great enough to encompass all that is known or thought, and to provide yet further layers of understanding to those who persevere past certainty within their own mind, past achieving what they feel is complete. For, within your illusion of limits there exists the infinite quality of each concept that each seeker has built the incarnation out of. There is the possibility for each seeker, then, to pursue any lesson or any service in an infinitely refined manner, and to continually learn more from every opportunity that it encounters, to learn more upon reflection, to learn more upon future application, to learn more within the silence of the self in meditation, to learn more within the face of each fellow seeker that one greets within the daily round of activities.

You have in your recent experience encountered this communication that has for you brought to your mind a particular quality of relationship and responsibility that stands first within your experience as that which deserves care, honor, work and commitment. These are qualities in your own experience which you have found to hold a certain charge, shall we say.

Before we continue, we find that we must pause in order that this instrument utilize the recording devices. We shall pause. We are those of Q’uo.

[Pause]

I am Q’uo, and am again with this instrument. We shall continue. We were attempting to illustrate the response which we gave to the previous query, that being that the preincarnative choices or programs will allow the seeker to experience a triggering mechanism upon the encountering of certain situations, which of themselves are a neutral nature, shall we say, the bias coming from the subconscious and conscious minds of the seeker. Thus, upon the reception of the communication concerning relationship, it was your experience that your dedication to getting one’s utmost effort to the constructing and maintaining of the relationship then was triggered. For another with less dedication in this particular area, there may have been little, if any, emotional response to that particular communication.

Thus does each seeker pursue a path that wends its way through experiences according to the programmings that it has provided itself and according to the guidance that it receives in a loving and wise manner from those unseen spirits whose hands yet ever enfold the seeker within their protective and nurturing grasp. We would recommend that when you desire to communicate to others your experience or understanding of any quality or concept, whether it be of relationships, of commitment, of seeking, of desire, or of whatever nature, that you give fully and wholly of yourself with as much clarity as is possible and also with the qualification that that which you give is your opinion and your learning, for it is a dynamic process that one is engaged in as one pursues the path of the seeker of truth, and this dynamism is a fundamental necessity for one who would teach and instruct others, for if one teaches what one is learning, then one is engaged in a living and growing process, rather than the recapitulation of dead facts which have little bearing upon one’s life experience.

It is helpful also to make the qualification to any who would seek to hear what you have to say in these areas that the opinion is that which you share, and that it may not be completely appropriate for another being, but that you have found it thus and such in your own life experience. Therefore, you may speak with as great a degree of commitment and passion as you feel, without fearing that you shall, in your passion and, perhaps, in your eloquence, overwhelm another and divert its free will in a manner which is not appropriate for its own incarnational pattern.

May we speak in any further way, my sister?

You did exactly grasp the thrust of my concern. I would just finish up by asking you if you would accept that work in consciousness, or indigo ray work, is basically metaprogramming? Is it a congruency of terms there?

I am Q’uo, and we would agree, in general, with the use of these terms, for the metaprogram is the program which has as its goal or its essence that which is somewhat hidden by its mechanics or its technique. Therefore, the factors which may be necessary in order for a program to be set in motion are more mechanical [in] nature than is the desired outcome from the setting into motion of the program. Therefore, the work in consciousness that is attempted is a work which one must diligently seek more as, shall we say, an aftereffect, having discovered that the outcome of a certain series of events was greater, shall we say, than was first noticed or presumed.

Therefore, it is often the case that the more diligent seeker will continue to look at what has been learned in any experience, so that the first fruits of that experience, then, are not the only fruits and, perhaps, not the central fruits that were possible in the experience. One who continues in this way to assess, to meditate upon that which has been learned, will find that not only are there layers of learning leading to the heart of the learning, but that there are correlations and extrapolations that may be found and applied in other portions of the life experience that were, perhaps, not seen to have a connection to the experience just completed and that which is being pondered. Therefore, the life experience of the more diligent seeker will become more unified in that each lesson, each experience will have a more universal application within the life pattern.

May we speak in any further fashion, my sister?

Not tonight, thank you. I feel the instrument’s probably pretty tired. I really appreciate your answers. Thank you so much.

I am Q’uo, and we thank you, my sister. Is there another query at this time?

[Pause]

I am Q’uo, and it appears that we have, indeed, exhausted the queries for the evening, and we would like to thank each present for inviting us to share our opinions with each of you, for it is in this manner that we discover more of that which you seek and find valuable in your life patterns. And by observing and partaking in this process of sharing, we are also able to find that which is of value in our own life patterns. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity in continuing to open yourselves to our words and our thoughts. We would remind each, as always, that we offer that which is our opinion, that which has been found to be useful in our own life journeys. We do not wish any word to offer a stumbling block to any other seeker. Take those words which have value to you and leave those which do not.

At this time we would take our leave of this group, again thanking each for inviting our presence. We are known to you as those of Q’uo. We leave you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. Adonai, my friends. Adonai.