April 3, 1994

Samuel: Well, greetings, dears.

Well you feel as though spring is coming for you now?

Yes.

S: I have some very, very special plans for you this night, but let’s begin it with a couple of gifts, aye? [Pause.] Bad week, eh? All right, Lilly Beth.

I’ve been consistently doing the Inner Temple work now, and I was asking the Universe to help me work with opening up opportunities in work—job hunting, that sort of thing. And I did that on Friday, and the mail came Friday afternoon, and I had three different opportunities in the mail, one of which was [response to] a resume I had sent out last summer. And the job that I was applying for was closed down and taken off the market, and suddenly had become available again. Whether that’s a job that I would take or not, I just found it rather interesting that, on a day that I was working with this particular work, that those doorways were opening as quickly and as rapidly as they were.

S: Do you think, dearest, that all of the mail devas were all of a sudden having to go into fast forward and to make sure that they […], or do you think that the mail devas had a whisper in your ear while you were doing your temple work, “Here is what your intent’s going to be”? Which one do you think there?

I think they were whispering in my ear.

S: Eh, I thought it was both! I’ve not taught you yet about the mail devas, now Have I? Postal devas—that’s another realm of devic activity.

I want one gift off of that gift. Tell me something you got from Elizabeth’s experience. Good, Jennifer.

A lot of times, when I don’t get a result from something, I just give up on it. And that says not to give up, to keep on working with it, that something that I really want can come of that, directly or indirectly, sooner or later, because it is a statement of what I want.

S: Another gift.

That spiritual work, Inner Temple, is not …

S: Wait. Not another gift from that gift, but a gift. However, go ahead.

That spiritual work is not necessarily just airy-fairy stuff. It can work in the real world.

S: And indeed that’s what that program’s all about. If you lived in the airy-fairy, if you lived in the esoteric cloud nirvana Shambala condo, then it would be worth your while, now, wouldn’t it, to only be able to function in that particular environment, but, you know—I know that it’s bad news; I know that many of you are really frustrated by the statement I’m about to make—you live in the world. Oof. That’s true, though. And therefore it’s the world you need to know how to live in. And if your spiritual practice does not allow you to function with what you need in this world, it’s not a spiritual practice. Oooh. Because that which is spiritual is love functioning through form, your form, the form that the world offers. Aye.

Now, I want a gift. Tell me something that is functioning in your life that you have the ability to turn and see as a means of your making a stronger connection with your spirit self. Yes.

I found Thursday I got up that morning and said, “I want to see gifts in my life.”

S: She said it like this: “I want to see some, too.”

And all throughout my day and went to go to people—various people—to say thank you. You know, it was the end of school. Daniel was going to be there Friday to say thank you, have a happy holiday, and I found that various people—and not just in the school setting, but outside—when I come to them with a gift of thank you or to actually give something, I received so many more gifts from them and from the Universe that I was overwhelmed to the point of tears.

S: Somebody, what did that gift give to you? What did you just get there?

One thing is, when you give you receive.

S: When you give you do receive. But you know, that’s not true all the time, is it? It’s not all the time true. When is it not true?

When you give with expectation.

S: Actually, Frank, even when you give with expectation you might be receiving. When is it not true.

When you can’t recognize and see that you are receiving.

S: When you are shut down, because, you see, you are still receiving, but sometimes you don’t see it.

Tell me another thing that that gift gives you. Good, Stuart, yes.

The reminder to consciously set out to look for gifts, that often, when I just get up and go about my day and I’m not paying attention to the gifts that come my way.

S: Well done, my dear. Good.

Well, darlings, this is a very special day for your calendar isn’t it? And I’m going to be making use of it as your calendar makes use of it. This is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Doesn’t that sound really pagan? Don’t you think? And what holiday is it that has been put into that time zone?

Easter.

S: Amazing, isn’t it? I like that. And what is Easter about?

Rebirth and resurrection.

S: Indeed. The death of Jesus Christ was during the Passover time of the Jews of that time, and as a result this is also the Passover. What is that? What is the Passover a celebration of? Aye, dear.

It’s the celebration of when the Jews were led out of captivity.

S: Aye, that’s the short version of it, absolutely. Led out of slavery as well as—right in there, the Christian version of the time—is rebirth, resurrection, death. I would like this night, with your pre-forgiveness, to teach you a bit about how to live in today’s world, based on the Easter story, mixed with just a bit of Passover flavoring, too. And I want to begin with the idea of the Passover, and I want you to remember that what I am talking about tonight is how to live in the real world—practical but strongly spiritual techniques to make your world, your world, work. And in order to get to the glorious resurrection in your life, you’ve got to start with passing over. Can somebody tell me what the Passover is? You know, if I were to do this in Pittsburgh, everybody would raise their hand and know just what I was talking about. Who here can give this to me, a bit more? Aye, dear.

It’s the time when the Jews washed their doors with sacrificial blood so that when the angel of death came through, the angel would know not to enter that house and thereby liberated the Jews.

S: And how did that liberate them.

Well, it basically killed everybody else.

S: I’m not sure that would be historically accurate. I don’t think so. I think it had more to do with causing enough confusion to be able to slip out in the dark of the night, perhaps, eh. And then do what? Why would they want to slip out by dark of the night, or dark of the knife, as the case may be? Why? It’s history, if it’s not religious—come now.

To go to the Promised Land and to leave the pharaoh’s slavery.

S: Thank you, yes. To get out of Egypt.

You have something to say here, Frank.

[Frank:] I don’t remember.

S: I do. I believe that Frank has said that they were chased out … can you help me a bit here?

Moses parted the Red Sea because he was chased, and if he had been having sex regularly, he wouldn’t have parted the Red Sea, because he wouldn’t have been chaste.

S: I did ask for that, didn’t I? And the particular message not that Frank had to offer, but I am wanting to offer in that particular experience, is first to ask you what is your slavery? What is keeping you enslaved now? They were rebelling from a way of life that meant nothing to them. How about your way of life? Are you in a point right now where you are feeling happy and secure, where you are pleased with your environment, the work that you do, the effect that you have on others? Are you even aware of these things? Is your lifestyle a form of rich slavery for you? What is your master? If you don’t know the answer to that question, you need simply look at what you spend most of your time doing. And that’s going to tell you what your master is. Is it working? Is it playing? Do you have wee tyrants? Do you have … do you have a life that is your own. or are you enslaved to something, or somebody? A way of life that no longer means to you what it once did. Perhaps you are enslaved to old beliefs or somebody else’s vision of your life.

Well, Moses got the honor of being the leader. Of course, the Universe was so desperate that it had to channel through a bush. That ought to tell you something about the quality of people then, eh, having to use the shrubbery. When these [flowers] start speaking, you know it’s time to go.

And his work was to let the people know that there was help on its way, but that help was on its way in the form of—somebody tell me again—in the form of what? Jacob. The help was coming in the form of—I’ll give you a hint [gestures].

The angel of death.

S: The angel of death. Which is to say that, in order to escape the slavery, there was going to be a radical change in their society. That’s a fairly nice way of saying that, for the most part, all of your neighbors were going to be killed off. But the point that I’m making here is that, very, very often, in your life you are waiting for some sort of outside influence to make you way safe. You are miserable with the life you are living—or not; that’s coming next—you are miserable and in slavery to a lifestyle that is not yours, and yet you do nothing until there is some radical intervention, or you keep waiting for it—the handwriting on the wall. I promise you that if you’re waiting for the handwriting on the wall, you would not be able to read the language it was written in. You think it’s art, don’t you? But it says, just do it now; don’t stop.

Very often you are moved by crisis in your life, and until you have just the right amount of crisis you don’t move. Crisis motivates; indeed it does. You get backed against the wall so that you cannot go any farther back. And finally you begin to move forward. That is what it took for them. Is that what it’s going to take for you now?

By putting the sacrificial blood across the doorway of a house, the angel of death knew to bypass that house. Do you sacrifice? “Oh, Samuel, I do sacrifice. My whole life is a sacrifice. In fact, I think that I have finally earned the martyr’s crown.” They’re not giving them this life. Sorry. May as well give it up now.

Sacrifice is recognizing one principle only, and that is life for life. But it does not mean now. (Getting ahead in the story there.) It does not mean now, that you must literally slit your throat and give up your life, nor does it mean that you must take the life of the goat that you’ve been preparing and allowing it to give its life onto the field for more life or onto the altar for more life. It means giving to get in like quality and quantity.

“Universe, I want it all. I want the best of everything. I want the life that I’m here to lead. I want to be happy. And therefore what I will do is come to these meetings once a month. Therefore what I will do is the five minute meditation. I don’t think I can remember it, anyway, because it’s so hard to get five extra minutes into a life.” It’s life for life.

What are you giving of you, of you, in order to receive back you? Anything? In order to receive freedom in this life, you need to give that which is life to you.

And that is what—in a very short version—Passover has to say. But there is more celebrated this day or over the last week than Passover. It is also the Christian’s Easter, and there are a few lessons there, too, about—specifically—living, and living abundantly. Somebody, give me a brief on the death, can you? [Pause.] All right. It happens all the time. Good, thank you, dear.

After going to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Christ was taken before the …

S: Triumphant entry—”Here I am. All right. Let’s do it. We’ll tell everybody. Out of the closet now.”

He did it, and they took Him and killed Him by crucifying Him.

S: Wait. A bit longer. Just a bit longer. What happened in between the triumphant entry into Jerusalem was there was a nice get-together with old friends.

You’re speaking of the last supper.

S: Thank you. And then?

He was betrayed.

S: Excellent. Was betrayed. This is important. And?

While praying in the garden on Gethsemane, had acquired the apostles and prepared them for going…. He was taken by the soldiers.

S: Before “taken by the soldiers,” any particular stand-out in this story?

Well, there’s a chicken part in the story, where …

S: I do believe that is the point I’m going after, though. What about the cock crowing thrice?

Well, when talking to the disciples, He mentioned that that event was going to occur, and …

S: And what would it represent? By the time that it happened, what would have happened?

The apostle would have denied Him because of the soldiers coming. Paul particularly, I think was the one.

Peter.

Peter, thank you.

S: It’s never a good sign when I know the story better than you do. And then?

He was, in fact, betrayed and taken.

S: And then? You can do it quickly now.

Was scourged, given the cross to take from the market to Golgotha, I guess was where they crucified Him. And crucified with Barabbas and another thief whose name escapes me.

S: And then?

The question was when did He die. There was a Roman soldier who stuck a sword or spear into His side. He was given vinegar.

S: Actually right into the pericardial sac around the heart, eh?

And was given vinegar instead of water. He came to a point where he was in death agony and said, “My Father, my Father, why hast thou forsaken me?” He died. He stayed there for a period of time, was taken down and taken to the tomb.

S: And then?

Having been placed in the tomb, they were concerned that Christians would come and take Him away and claim that He had risen from the dead, so they put a big rock in front of it so lots of Christians couldn’t do that, and put guards around. The guards went to sleep …

S: Naturally.

… and Mary and Mary Magdalene, I think, went back to the tomb to see how He was there. They found an angel, and actually perhaps Christ Himself sitting on a rock, who said, “He is not here. He has risen.” And they went into the tomb and looked, and He was not there.

S: And then?

They went on to tell the disciples. As I remember, they met Christ in transit, but didn’t recognize Him immediately. When they did recognize Him, then they fell down and worshipped Him, and He said that He would see them later in Galilee, if I remember correctly.

S: This is so filled with great stuff for your life that can absolutely turn the whole teaching of Easter into something so meaningful to you today right now, active for you right now. Real to your life right now. It is a story of beginning with an incredible awakening. When at Passover you have left the slavery that the world so often wants to give you, you become very, very aware that now it is time to start living the life you are here to lead. You move into the world, so to speak, as Jesus did moving into Jerusalem—the crowds are cheering, but you’re still on an ass, aren’t you. Never forget that. It’s the point, you know.

And you are so excited about new hope, change, new beginning, but what to do, what to do, what to make it real for you?

And Jesus left a trail of information to show you who to live your life by His death. It begins with a reminder that He surrounded Himself with good people, people who understood His vision. Clearly, Jesus was capable of expressing His vision. Let’s go one step further: He knew what His vision was. Do you? If you could have anything, what would it be? If you could be anything, what would it be? What is your life not that you wish it was? If you could change something in your life, what would it be, and is there some reason you’re not changing it now? What is your vision? Do you dream? What is your vision? Can you express it? Not can you express it in three days or less? Can you express it in thirty words or less? In thirty seconds or less—because that’s about the attention span of most people who are listening to you, and in fact, if they watch a whole lot of television, it’s probably about seven and a half seconds before they need you to change somehow.

Surround yourself with people who are connected with your vision. Even if it is not to act your vision out, those who understand the sorts of things you care about. Jesus surrounded Himself with people who had a vision for the world, even though it was a radical change from the secure and easy religious foundation they had. Do your friends even know your spiritual beliefs, and is that not an incredibly stunning foundation to build any relationship on? The teachings of love, of the Source, and the connection that each has in that? And yet, for so many, because your spirituality is not real in this world, because it is not spiritual, but dogma. You’ve got the rules, you’ve got the patterns, of here is what you do, and it means you have this love in your life, but you don’t have the love in your life. Because you’ve got the dogma you never do share it, because it doesn’t mean anything to you. Get a life that does and friends who do. Jesus did.

And He did things like took them out to dinner now and again. Meaning, simply, appreciate your friends. Let them know you love them. Socialize with them. Learn to enjoy the people you love as they live their lives, as you live yours. Feeding on two levels that way, isn’t it, a physical, but also that mental/spiritual one, too.

Well, at this particular night, Jesus was betrayed. But I want you to remember, my darlings, for those who have heard me give the official version of the Easter story (That was supposed to be a joke. You could have laughed there.) I tried to help you understand that Judas was doing his job, too, that if he had not done his job, well, it would have had to have been someone else or it would not have happened. And that perspective is very important to remember when you are feeling betrayed in your life—somebody is sacrificing their internal honor to help you learn a lesson. Or maybe it is that this is your opportunity to look beyond the most basic physical experience.

Yes, Jesus was betrayed. And in your life, my darlings, you’re often going to feel betrayed, because you are currently human, living in a human experience, and humans do things like that. Yes, they do. But what did Jesus do? Forgive. Do you? the world remembers Judas as the villain. Jesus saw him as a necessary part of the greater picture. That’s the difference between the master and the student. You choose to be the master. Look to see how everything that you experience in your life plays a part in the bigger picture, even those things that look to be the doorways to certain death.

And indeed that came also to Jesus in a way that was very typical of the time. There were worse and more gruesome deaths, and there were easier ones. This one was more to pacify and make a point, and therefore Jesus was accorded a fairly typical death for the time. Nonetheless, the process was—not to go into too much detail, because it’s not the direction I’m going—to nail through the wrist—you know through the hands, of course, many of you who are carpenters would know that your hand bones would just break and it would slide right through, but not holding on through the wrist, so you know through the wrist because you would be held. And the same through the ankles of the feet, because if you nail through the ankles you can hold to the cross with your feet still, rather than propping on the iron spike. Aren’t you glad you found this out? And very, very often there was rope doing additional binding to hold hands and feet. Hands and feet—where you go and what you do. The feet are where you’re going, and the hands are what you’re doing.

And remembering that the very last act of Jesus was to forgive those who were with Him and who were inflicting the pain, that goes back to reminding you to forgive. I have a very long bit of teaching that I’m not going to give about forgiveness begins with your childhood and goes all the way through your adulthood, and that forgiving means love for giving, giving love. That’s what it is. Anyone that you need to forgive, it means give to them love. You may not can give understanding; that’s not asked. You don’t understand why something was done. You may not can give agreement; that is also not asked. But as you look through your life at those who have made the path that you walked or the things that you do hard for you, yours is to give to them, and the only thing that you truly have to give is love. That’s what forgiving is.

After a long amount of suffering, the death actually is one of suffocation, more than anything else. As the body is dying and the organs themselves begin breaking down, the pericardial sac fills with water, and by shoving the spear into the side it offers a quicker death in the midst of suffocation, if it has not already been done, but of course the reason that the water mixed with blood goes down the side was because it was saying death was here.

And He was taken away into a borrowed tomb. Must not have paid His insurance premiums, eh? And immediately His friends begin to weep, because they knew that their great hope was gone. I tell you what, my friends. I hope that your friends know your vision a bit better than they did, because, as dear and close as they were, they were greatly mourning a loss, which is why the angel at the tomb said, “Did He not tell you so? He ought to have.”

You will die. But death is not the end. I want you to do something. I want you to do this. [Inhales quickly] What did you just do? Just took a great big breath, didn’t you? Breathing is a part of living, isn’t it? So is dying. So is dying. If you did not allow this thing to be finished, you, you, would be trapped inside of it. If the body did not go, you could not go. Therefore, it’s a very wonderful thing that happens. Death is a release of what is truly you. There are a lot of different kinds of death—the death of an age, the death of an idea. I’m ready for the death of the New Age, aren’t you? The death of a human. The death of an old way of life. The birth of a new age, the birth of a new idea, the birth of a new human, a new way of living. And as you constantly die, day by day by day, it is doing you now good if you are not being reborn day by new day by new day. The power of the Easter story is not the death; it’s that the death isn’t the end. There is resurrection. That’s not insurrection, by the way, for the rebels among you. That is resurrection.

But in Jesus’s resurrection, His closest friends did not recognize Him. Now, what do you think that’s saying? First, on a very basic level, as far as everyday reality is concerned, one of the things that that is saying is, it’s not really death if nothing changes in your life. You’ve not really become brand new if you’re still going through all the same stuff, if you’re still following the same patterns, holding the same beliefs. You’re not letting go of the old and getting out of slavery and dying to the old beliefs and becoming a wonderful being if you’re still doing all the same stuff that you are dying to. You need to be willing to be transform the very physical existence you have. As Jesus showed you with the very physical body He had. But then, on that esoteric level, that’s something to see as important, too. He could create enough of a body to talk and walk, but not enough to look like His old self. Why do you think that is? [end of tape]

Say it again.

They would have captured Him. If He looked the same, then they Romans had a chance of grabbing hold of Him again.

S: You know, dearest, that’s a very interesting thought. Not the one I was going after, though. It’s because He wasn’t the same. Totally gold, no dross. The reason He did not look the same, even to those who knew Him, was because He was functioning in a totally spiritual body.

“Well now, Samuel, I thought this was supposed to be practical, and I don’t think that is.”

And yet, it really is. The signs of your creating a spiritual body by your constant death and constant resurrection, purposefully: You are becoming more sensitive to things—to light, to smell, to taste. How are you doing with oil? How about animal products? You’re finding your body becoming more sensitive. You are more aware of what’s going on with other people; in fact, sometimes it’s like you know what they’re thinking, isn’t it? Your abilities to know what it is that’s needed in a given situation have really taken off. That’s healing, by the way, on a mental level. These are the acts of a spiritual body that is learning to how to function in form. That is what synthesis with individuation is about, and yet it’s true, the old gang isn’t likely to fully recognize it. But if you’ve never had chocolate, you call it frozen mud, don’t you? Well, all right, maybe not that. I was thinking of chocolate ice cream. If you’ve never seen a ship, you think that it’s a great beat out on the sea. If you’ve never experienced the energy of Christ in you—the hope and glory—how can you ever see it in another? And that is what Christ’s resurrection was about.

He said two things, ultimately, to his disciples, and they are absolutely incredible statements to leave. He said, “I’m going to be leaving.” That’s one. “And you are going to be able to go into the world, because you are going to recognize your gifts.” Your job, my darling, is not to stay here forever. You are going to be leaving. For some of you, people will gain more from your leaving than by your being here, and I think that’s really sad. You can make a change in that now, you know.

But, in that larger picture, you are not going to be here—be it Lexington, Kentucky, or be it on this planet—for long. You are going to be leaving. What is going to mark your being here? You are going to be leaving. Is there anybody who will miss you? You are going to be leaving. Will this world have a greater understanding of what love through form can be because you have passed here?

And He said, “You have gifts. Take them into the world. And the gifts will come to you like fire.” Meaning, my darlings, that the passage of your finally figuring out what your gifts are, the way, the vehicle for figuring out what you’re here to do and what it is you’re going to take into Jerusalem and Judea and the ends of the earth—Budapest, Istanbul and Cyprus—what it is you’re going to take into Lexington, Richmond, Midway, Louisville, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Toronto, is going to come to you through passion, fire. Passion, fire. The gifts of your spirit will come in fire. What fires you up? It’s that simple, because that’s where your gifts are. What delights you, and absolutely angers you, because that’s passion, too. What keeps you going? Anything?

You have gifts and you are here because this world needs them. You will take them into the farthest reaches of the earth, and they will come to you through your passion.

Later, the teacher of Christ’s work—Christ being the name of that spirit self, if you will, that which is a part of the Source within each one of you, that Christ energy which is the energy of the ascended being—that teacher said Christ is in you, the hope and the glory—and that’s where Easter ends. To the Christian, I think that the message is beautiful and immportant, and that is that Jesus did die but He rose again. Every major religion, by the way, has a great one who died and rose again. But to those who are being a living embodiment of what that One was here to teach, I think the message is more that that energy is in you and it is yours to do something with. And by doing something with that energy of resurrected love, new hope, there comes into your life glory.

I believe Easter has to be one of the most practical messages on living and truly being passionately on fire and alive that any of the holidays offers. Indeed, my darlings, it is a holy day, a day to release yourself from the slavery of the old, to die, to be born again, through the passion of your life experiencing the gifts that you are here to give the world and recovering your hope and experiencing the glory.

Phoenix Institute, from this night on, is working with a program of that sort of practical spiritual teaching. Quick and easy. An opportunity that at least once a week you can live a little, learn about who you really are. It’s really time my friends.

Glochanumora. Happy, happy trails.