Dear R,

This letter is answering three letters of yours. I will be skipping around a bit from subject to subject because I will be following those things that I noted in your letter, which skips around more logically in the context itself. I just don’t need to comment on everything.

Further, there is the fact that I write a lot of people and some of what you were saying to me in this letter has to do with things that I had obviously said to you in your previous communications that I had sent to you, which at this time I can’t remember. If you could see my log book, you’d understand. I guess I must write a lot of letters.

Blessings to you and I hope your path is light these days. If you have read it once before, I suppose the next thing I would send you is the channeling handbook. I used to think of this for channels, which is why I wrote it, but people who have no intention of channeling at any time in the future have also said that it was just a great book for living. It is very much a part of me and this is very much a part of your letter. If something sounds good, take it; otherwise just ignore it. But that channeling handbook is probably what I would send next.

Thank you for your kind words about my work. I do appreciate them very much. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to do this work and it is a labor of love. I am really the one that is grateful, but thank you for your words.

Now there was a long discussion having to do with nuances, communication involving things that are beyond words, and the nuances of vibration of harmony actually being irritating and in somehow not grasping that things are whole and perfect as they are. And that there is nothing really to judge anyone for.

This is truth in a sense that it is relatively unhelpful to most people. Most people are not ready to accept and forgive themselves in order to open their hearts for the kind of work in consciousness that leads to a unification of visions. With all that there is, there is a good deal of material to work through, and it is my desire to speak and communicate clearly with people who are on their way, as I am, to that kind of realization, not people who are already there.

Remember the parable of the prodigal son, and the son who stayed home was feeling really, “Hey, dad, you never cooked a calf for me,” and the father says, “Well, you have been right here with me all of the time and everything I’ve got is yours. But you didn’t go away so why should I rejoice that you returned. You never left.”

That is why I speak to the concerns people have living in what seems to be an extremely dualistic and confusing world as good and evil and many other polar opposites. To picture people as basically children, all of them playing and the Creator seeing all of this with a benign smile and a pat on the head and saying, “Have some ice cream,” is completely to circumnavigate the central lessons of this density that you can make a choice. If we are going to dwell in this space, which says, “Be perfect as your Father is perfect,” and we are all one, etc., we are not consciously, at least, working on the choice. One has to deal with the duality of this world, and an active, and engaged and passionate life in a committed and caring way, either in service-to-others or in service-to-self.

I don’t think I would be doing anybody any good if I already displayed the portion of my knowledge that had to do with all of our being, unified and forgiven because that is the bottom line.

Most people are not even out of the first chapter, and the last sentence of the end of the book is not going to help them. You have to talk to people where they are. Obviously I talked to you where you were not, at least that particular day because I must have said something about not trying to save the world, but slowing down and doing what you can each day; seeing what is in front of you each day and doing it with the status and most single-minded heart possible and for the love of the Infinite Creator. This can be whether it is washing pots, or giving speeches, or being a president, or being a scullery maid, or being a prisoner or what. There is really no difference in our activities. The difference lies in our attitudes towards them.

I also want to say very clearly, I don’t look at what prisoners have done that sent them to prison. That was then. This is now. I know some prisoners are in prison who are innocent; other prisoners, and probably the majority of them, are in prison because of behavior that was very destructive, either to themselves or to somebody else. That is not what I am here to deal with. I have talked to a lot of prisoners, as you rightly know that, and never once have I asked anybody, “How come you are in prison? What did you do? Or what didn’t you do?” Or whatever. It would be a matter of gossip. It would be irrelevant to anything that is the most shallow of curiosities, and as it happens, I am not a particularly curious person when it comes to that kind of thing. I tend to take people pretty much as they are today, and unless they have managed to hurt somebody that I love (and this is usually people who hurt my friends’ feelings one way or another), I feel the same way towards everyone.

I think that when things get much closer to home and the more intimate that things get, the more difficult it is to have that long point-of-view that never remembers a time when a person was not at his most polarized, service best. Apparently you were talking about networking and saving the planet, and I say, “Hang on.” It is better simply to do whatever you can and save yourself. Then if you save yourself, by the radiance of person, after person, after person working on his own consciousness, mass consciousness and the planet earth are lightened, and the planet (in the meaning in which you intended) is saved.

Personally I do not think that this is play. I think that this is difficult, intense work, involving a great deal of discipline with humility; and the ability to surrender much of one’s self as one knows one’s conscious-self in order that the self (that actually knows a good bit more than our conscious minds do), may take a longer view, offer a more informed view point and be of more help. In my channeling, I tune much more carefully then when I am writing letters because I am going through the process of opening up my identity to an exterior identity. Not everyone that channels does that. Many channels thinks it comes from inner planes and it is not nearly as dangerous then it is to open the self to a discarnate entity, which is from outside of one’s own identities.

Having taught channeling for years and I gradually wound my teaching down because of the damage I have seen it do good people, who simply did not follow instructions and continued working on their own without the support of other people. “When two or three are gathered together in my name,” doesn’t say anything about if you are by yourself, do it anyway. And although interior things are fine to be done by yourself, when one is working with channeling that is going to be seen by others, all are potentially more intent and it is, indeed, not well to visit by oneself.

Here you go again. “There is no positive or negative not in His eyes, and Love has no possibility of separation, and the idea is to be or do whatever makes you happy.”

That whole train of thought again, I will iterate even though I know it may be boring. I think it is an important point for you to see. It is not truth and compassion, I don’t think, to look at people who are totally zonked, and confused and wiped out. It is really not kind or instructive to tell them how it all comes out. They still can’t work the problem. What you want to do with people is to create an atmosphere of non-judgment because that is the truth, and then to deal in terms of this illusion with what people are dealing with in this illusion.

Learning is a long, long road. It sounds like a Tom Petty song, doesn’t it? And people need to know that there are other foot-sore and weary seekers who are walking that path, who are just as confused, and just as dry, and thirsty, and sore and suffering. They need to realize that there is a way from this place, in one’s personal, subjective feeling of reality, to an oasis, a garden, where there is water abundant, and food abundant and rest for the weary. And the only way that you can talk to people who are lost in the desert is by attempting to give some tools and resources whereby they can find their direction. They need a compass.

They don’t need to know there is no oasis. They need to know the direction. They didn’t even know there is no oasis. But they also need a compass or whatever tool it is that will guide them there; a metaphysical compass, shall we say.

And that basic metaphysical compass is, it is possible to change one’s consciousness by persistent meditation, communion with the Father, a chance to serve other people, a continuing forgiveness of the self over, and over, and over again because every day we do things that we really are not happy about. And every day we need to forgive ourselves and begin anew. So the knowledge is that the whole process of redemption and the beginning anew are possible; and how it is possible; and how you go about feeling it deeply within yourself, not on the surface as a social conversation.

There is a deep river into which you can touch. A river that is eternal forgiveness, and redemption, and renewal, and furthermore, this river of Love is not to be drunk in order simply for solace. It is to be drunk in order to re-engage one’s passions and one’s commitment to loving our Creator and other people.

How do you do that? Meditate and other resources are needed—all of this within the terms of the illusion. There is a great deal of material that has to do with even beginning to recognize that we are in an illusion, and getting to look through the bars of that prison, which is the illusion. And quit pecking on chickens on the ground for the best piece of corn, which is basically what a lot of people do with their lives.

I don’t think I would be very helpful to people if I simply kept telling them that they were fine. They would be saying, “Look at this sore on my arm. Look at this cancer. Look at this terrible sickness,” whatever the physical equivalent would be of some sickness of soul. Instead I direct that soul in its beleaguering incarnate form. If that is where we are, and we are in the trenches and it is an illusion, but it is a consensus reality, and it is here for us to learn in. And for me not to take that seriously and not to deal with people right where they are, is being basically dishonest. And something that I wouldn’t want to do and wouldn’t do. Although I completely agree with you that any and all is one. And that indeed is part of the information that we who speak of love have to offer to people.

In other words, this day, “Ye shall be with me in Paradise.” You have to set up the realization that the person has to seek. Remember there were two criminals on the crosses besides Jesus. One of them was making fun of the guy. The other one had the humility and the wisdom to say, “Will you help me? Will you remember me?” He asked. He had the faith, and the caring and the hope to ask, and I think that is what I try to do is get people involved in learning, asking, seeking and searching. In the beginning, it is that learning process. And then as they are going along, they can write me about whatever tools are giving them problems, or confusion or whatever.

I may be aware of a long view, but I do not speak it all of the time or even a majority of the time. The majority of the time I am addressing the specific concerns of specific people who are having specific problems in this illusion, and they need to be able to see these specific problems with eyes of love. So every communication that I send out is different, and this would not be true if we were all one in this illusion.

Yes, I am aware of the “Course in Miracles” and we are going to read that book. We have it. We have all of the books we are supposed to have in that “Course of Miracles,” but you know we only have an offering once a day and there is just so much that you can read, if you are going to read the Ra material every day, and the Bible every day and then one more thing. We have been promising ourselves, we want to read this, we want to read that, and I think coming up next is “The Golden [Vow].” I have wanted to read that for about 20 years so it will be a while before we get to the “Course of Miracles,” but get to it, we shall.

I have contact with your guide. Congratulations that your daughter found Jesus. I think that is just wonderful. To me, and I guess there must be something Italian in my nature although as far as I know, I am basically French and German, because I have a great feeling for family. I know that there must be a blessing to you to have her there again.

Yes, I think Jesus did mean exactly what he said when he said, “Greater things shall you do than I.” However, and this difference may only be semantic, anybody that has experienced a knock on the door at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning and had I been standing dressed in absolute perfection with high heels and suit, and carrying this little pamphlet that they want to give away for a dime, will grasp what I am saying when I say, “You can’t bludgeon a person into changing. You can’t expect everybody that crosses your path to want to hear what you have to say.” As a matter of fact, the old “pearls before swine” number comes to mind real fast there.

Basically what I would say about your saying about “going forth and communicating His words to any who may cross our vibrational path” is, we go forth and communicate anything that is asked of us of anybody who crosses our path.

If people don’t ask the questions, then it is an infringement on their free will to force them into an awakening that particular day to whatever we know that they don’t. These are our personal truths and we don’t have the right to infringe on other people’s free will. Now if somebody asks you, you’ve got carte blanche and you can talk as long as you have the words to talk. I always tell people who write in wanting to be of more service and wanting to channel, that to me the greatest service that a person can perform is to walk in his own consciousness. It is very seldom that we have a chance to witness to people who are at that precise moment self-awakening; where what we have to say will do a lot of good; and that we will affect a change in consciousness or be a catalyst for change in consciousness for another.

Normally, our chief way to be a catalyst for positive change of consciousness in another is the way we are, just our nature, our being, our essence, what people feel when they are around us. You know some people who are just radiant. They just shine sort of and it is just wonderful to be around them. This is basically what we are after. I guess you would call it the “Mother Teresa effect.” That is our true service. The word, the teachings, all of that are secondary to how we are in essence in our consciousness.

Now back to networking. My grammatical genie obviously has gotten stuck in your soup here. My grasp of the word “networking” is simply that it is a noun made into a verb. It would be just as easy to say that I am working to create a communications network, which will unite and be a source of common communication between all of the many different light centers that are attempting to do the same work. You can say that perfectly well without misusing the English language, but that reality is that absolutely nobody but me cares about the English language.

You have a part in here that I really don’t know how to respond to because when you say “the optimum to love like Carla,” my questions is: Do you all want to love like I loved at 7 o’clock last night when I was irritated? Or—it isn’t that I back away from the things that I have done or deny it. That which I really have dedicated my life to is worth while. It is simply that anybody who is under the illusion—we all, of necessity, have many imperfections, and it is like having to serve as a role model. I am not an avatar, or guru, or a person who is within the bounds of this illusion, perfect.

To be in this illusion and to be perfect are contradictory thoughts, which is one reason why the idea of being perfect is so exquisite because paradox is the very soul of spiritual truth. We are all bozos, but we are all perfect. It is that kind of thing that we need to learn from the mysteries, that we need to be able to discover about ourselves, but I do thank you for your words. I won’t back away from the responsibility of what you are saying. If that is the way you feel, then that is your truth.

Let me just say that one time I was hanging my pictures and a friend of mine who has been my friend since I was in college had sown several needlework things for me and one of them is a picture of seeking for the truth and it is that of an owl and she embroidered that in crewel. And I always hang that over this absolutely wonderful sun rising over a distant hill with the river and it is all done in needlepoint. It is just amazing. It is beautiful, and there is a little plaque that another of my friends gave me that is a quote about love And I tend to hang those three together wherever we end up living, not that I have moved that many times, but this was two moves ago that this happened.

Anyway Don was still alive then, and he looked at my having hung those three pictures that way, and he went into his room and he came out with this framed picture of Woody Allen, which was on the cover of the Saturday Review that he had kept because he liked Woody Allen. And he hung this picture of Woody Allen up next to the seeking of the truth, etc. And I said, “Why did you do that?”

And he said, “You are taking yourself too seriously.”

The part about how we wish to work magic? There is a lot of confusion in the word magic. Let me see if I can address it in a way that makes sense without rambling on forever. You are talking about my joining hands with all the souls of the creation and leading up to the Father. Of course, we have already done that outside of this illusion. It is just within the illusion that we are having trouble with it and I cannot take anybody else with me. I am not Christ. I can forgive everybody and they are, therefore, forgiven but as far as people’s ability as metaphysical and imperishable souls to be able to use and feel comfortable with the denser, and brighter and brighter light of our Creator—in other words, to graduate into the next density of light, I can’t do that for somebody else. And nobody else can do that for me. You’ve got to walk that lonesome valley; you’ve got to walk it by yourself and that is the truth. Wisdom, service, inspiration are catalyst for each one’s learning and growth. The redemptive principle of the universe was not something that I was incarnated to express. That was given to another guy on this particular planet, several other guys I expect, but the one that I am most familiar with and more able to talk about with some kind of intelligence is Jesus the Christ.

I shall one day be Christed. There is no question about that. And I don’t believe that day has come. I think I would know. I feel more that I am one who has been offered an opportunity to be a teacher. That is it, a teach/learner and though I can hold onto everybody, I can’t pull anybody where I am going. All I can do is help people find the Christ in themselves, although I certainly link him synergistically with all people in whatever prison they are in. Believe me, if you are in this illusion, you are in a prison of some kind.

There isn’t a thing I can do about anyone’s situation except talk about it and in that talking perhaps I can help. A lot of talking has to do with listening so basically that is what I hope I am able to do with letters to people like you. Not just talk, or preach or have a line that I dish out to people wholesale, but to listen to where people are, and where their pain is and to look between the lines.

You are talking about service-to-self is perfect just like service-to-others; unconditional love is not to put labels of any kind on any of your brothers.

I don’t have to put labels on my brothers. My brothers put terrible, terrible labels on themselves. And I am attempting to be an instrument of healing.

You say, “The path to unity within this density of illusion is a path whereby we come to know our own nature. We hone our curiosity and our desire to seek the truth. We find within ourselves the seeds of the Creator and we find ourselves to be loved and to be able to be loved in return. As we find out these things about ourselves, we heal ourselves, and then because we ourselves are healed and forgiven, we become instruments of healing for others.”

But again, I can love everyone equally, but if I cannot talk to people who are talking to me about their problems in terms of where they are in a vocabulary they understand, I am not giving any more help to them than some distant, old, musty priest at a mass, muttering things in Latin that they don’t understand. It isn’t my idea of being helpful.

About magic, [Don worried about me] during the whole process of psychic giving, which came during the Ra material sessions, a lot of things happened to me that (part of my nature is to be afraid) might have made me to decide to lay down that particular service and do something else. However, I am one of those people who say, “Come on guys, it will be fun.” The magic that we used was not a magic ceremony or recipes of this and that and the other thing. We didn’t have the knowledge to be able do otherwise.