Posted on 29 January 2018, 19:48

In the next two conversations with the spirit of Stephen the Martyr, he leads us from anxiety about what we may have done in previous incarnations, and this present life, to embrace our true nature as an thought in All That Is.  Stephen’s words cannot be lightly skimmed as if we were reading a newspaper. They need   to be treated as poetry attempting to help us feel and know the truth.

Stephen: The atmosphere of inquiry! Therefore, let us inquire.

Michael: Are you aware of the conversation we have been having?

Stephen: Of parts only.

Michael: (Concerned that he may have been X in a previous life) Would you speak of the drama, the part that X had to play in the drama?

Stephen: Your choice of the word “drama” does, I am afraid, cause amusement. But it is correct, nevertheless, for the events were dramatic. Two concepts you must have: firstly, the conscious physical being that was X; the second concept is the cell that must influence. The cell being part of the Whole influences to a purpose.

Therefore, we are in a position when we must say two things of X: firstly, to use a concept that you often use, [from the point of view of the cell, or soul] X must have indeed been a saint! But were physical thinking beings to judge him a second time then surely X must be a sinner!

The cell that was influencing X of course was part of the Source and the purpose of that Source was achieved by the influence that was placed upon the physical X.

Can you not see how this can be so? 

Let us not think of X, let us think even of “Geoffrey” [or the reader]. 

Let us consider the actions of Geoffrey, be they good, bad, or even ... questionable: the cell that bears influences on Geoffrey, influences for a purpose. That cell has (these words are not quite apt) corrections that itself must make. It does this by influencing the physical mind, causing probable noticeable actions of that physical mind and body. Success in doing this assists not only the Divine purpose but also the correction of that cell. But it will be sufficient to say that the cell that was influencing the physical X at that time was indeed successful in the purpose of the Source. It is known and must be realized that because the cell must continue exercising such influence through other incarnations, it follows that the cell did not complete the correction of the mis-arrangements or disorder that was desired.

Therefore, we have the free and thinking will of the conscious mind that was X, we have the cell disorder that must be rearranged and we also have the purpose of the Source. The first two must and always will be subservient to the latter.

I must leave you with the concept here:

That you should think of yourself as the root of a plant which to grow has to experiment and explore to gain the food for the plant.

It does not sink into the soil with certainty. It senses and feels and instinct guides it.

Not all the roots are successful in their quest for the nourishment of the plant but by spreading in all directions they enable the plant to remain upright in the ground.

Therefore, do not always expect that, before you undertake the mental search, you will be instructed.

The direction in which you are probing is not necessarily to bring the nourishment that you are seeking.

For remember that even the cell that influences you or your conscious mind must be subservient to the purpose of the Source.

But let us think more of what troubles you and that of which I feel you would have your mind eased.

The purpose, the Divine purpose, the purpose that is from the Source, the purpose of the actions of X at the time, that purpose has been fulfilled and therefore it would hardly be necessary to re-enact our drama even for practice!

Be not concerned, for should each conscious mind know of previous actions that it had taken, even though by its own free will, each conscious mind would prefer not to believe that it had been reincarnated.  They would disassociate themselves very promptly from what had gone before. For that reason, it is not considered advisable for conscious minds to have knowledge of previous happenings and associations.

You can see why it is avoided except for a purpose which is generally the purpose of the Source. It is only when instruments such as ourselves are directed, and my receiving is such, that these things are disclosed. You will recall that when left to my own judgement, quite often I decline to satisfy curiosities such as this!

Michael: But when you spring X on me it arouses more curiosities.

Stephen: Unfortunately, but in your case I assure you, fortunately, what is, can never be sprung upon us! No more than I could disclaim what I know of my previous incarnations although well I may wish. But that is another story.

52. Stephen reminds us not to see our incarnations too concretely. 

Stephen: We say many things that repeat themselves throughout the ages; they tell us the same thing. Is this surprising? For what we are, in truth, is no more than what we are. We may if we wish continue to clothe ourselves and seek for ourselves even finer garments than those which we originally had. But with the age [Aquarius] that we are in now, when we talk of ages, we shall find that with the water, the foundations of this clothing we have cast upon ourselves will be as firm as those of the house that was built on sand, and will wash away. For no matter how often we clothe ourselves, the [spiritual] garments, like the physical garments with which we clothe ourselves, can never be permanent. Even if we were to paint our skins it would not hide us for long. For we are there but we cannot feel the sun for often we are clothed. The helmet that we have upon our heads often has the visor covering the face and if we were to speak in such a position we would hear but echoes and we would hear the same thing again. We might say, “This is what I heard, echoes”. The echo will continue until the helmet is lifted, for there will be no need to echo or no need to speak of what is, for we will see, feel the warmth, breathe in the air that is there, that has never gone, that can never be taken away.

There, that is serious, is it not!

Michael:  Unfortunately, my helmet, dear Stephen, is still on my head therefore I have to ask questions.

Stephen: Therefore, dear Michael, I shall echo what you ask!

Michael:  Well, you have spoken of the reincarnation thread with perhaps a hundred-thousand time-names, of the droplet of rain in the ocean. Can you give me an image which will combine these in my feelings?

Stephen: Rather that I should take away a little of the echo, for the image that we build [repeated] even a hundred thousand times, brings to mind the thread *that we seek.

[Elsewhere Stephen cautions against taking the thread image too seriously and also the tapestry made from the threads.  The tapestry itself could be seen as a sheet of glass, even as an ocean]

Your ocean I shall heat for you
and it shall become steam and the steam shall vanish
and become the whole of the universe.
For you will not restrict me, Michael, to even an ocean!
You have taken me now from a thread,
to one that was stoned,
and down through the ages until I, and we, Michael, were first guilty of the separation [eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge].
I will not stay there; I will take you with my Stephen
until now we are the universe.
We often look from the sky invertedly,
backwards, to dispel that whence Stephen comes.
Turn and face the sky!
The stories that we are shown,
the teachings that we are given,
and the things we had learnt,
show to us whence we came
so that we might know where to go.

Let us look at the elements of the Stephen; for which came first - the Stephen [or]  the pool [or ocean] that became wet, that became heated, that became the steam?

So we might say, “In the beginning we were wet, then we became warm, now we are coming away - I know this because I have been there and I am travelling from there, not to there.” It is this that we must know; we say this is the truth. 

But when we have done this often enough in our mind we will see and be clear that it is a pointless journey, for we do not change; we have travelled nowhere.

Let us stop the movement and become what we are - all of these things. For we are neither separately the steam, nor the wetness, nor the invisible, not separateness but together, we are what is.

Therefore, Michael, and Thomas and all others, we do not go back to be Jacob or Judas; we go forward to what we are - where the vision must expand, as does the steam.

We might take care lest we even ascend the ladder of Jacob -to get nowhere! - lest we say and know “I am here” as with Thomas and his exercise when he, without his body, travelled across the room, to open his non-existent eyes and see what was there, what he knew was there, from a different angle. Needless to say, he did not succeed in his attempt to travel. For all that was there was Thomas. Without needing to use a mirror each of you look at yourselves. You can but see part of the Whole.

It is pointless to travel the journey, in which you might stand off to look at just who you are and then to have this knowledge. To stand off from yourself cannot be, for we are one: we cannot separate from each other, or be different. We may recognise parts of us but we cannot stand off to see all of us. Nor can we ask, “Should I be this, or this?” Or say, “That is good and the other is bad.” Or ask, “Which is me?” Or say, “The good will balance the bad.”

Should I perhaps say that when I speak like this I am speaking nonsense! For in this vision I have of me I create a falsehood that bears no relation to the truth. I am neither good nor bad, except as I would see myself in relation to this… or this.. [gesturing]

So the question becomes, “How should I look at myself?” The answer is, of course, “You cannot, for you are unable to.”  The limitations of what your physical body can see and know are the limitations that your search for knowledge imposes on yourself. These imaginings and judgements are the clothes by which you cover yourself.

Let them wash away.

As for me, I shall clothe myself in the clothes of a saint and depart, leaving Thomas with his body that he might be a saint also! God bless you all!
. Michael Cocks edits the journal, The Ground of Faith.
Afterlife Teaching From Stephen the Martyr by Michael Cocks is published by White Crow Books and available from Amazon and other bookstores.

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For more on Stephen go to www.thegroundoffaith.net/issues/2017-02