I did the Morning Offering and then got myself ready for the day. Today the Q’uo quote comes from November 19, 2006:
The question this week has to do with the conflict between what we project as a personality in our daily round of activities and our soul essence that moves with us through various incarnations and really has the basic plan for evolution in mind. Frequently, our personality seems to be at odds with this deeper self that knows what we need to do. When we are in catalyst situations in our daily round of activities and we’d like to punch somebody out, there’s this little voice that says, “That’s probably not a good idea.” We were wondering if Q’uo could give us some information on how we can deal with our personality. Because it is our personalities that we would use to deal with it. Do we need to refine our personalities? Do we need to get rid of our personalities? Do we need to balance our personalities? How can we most skillfully deal with what seems to be a conflict between the personality that wants to do certain things in this illusion and the deeper soul-self that really knows what we ought to be about and what we ought not to be about.
(Carla channeling)
We are those of the principle known to you as Q’uo. Greetings in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, in whose service we come to you this day. It is a delight to be called to your circle of seeking and we are most glad to share our humble thoughts with you concerning the dynamics between the personality and the soul or spiritual essence. As always, however, we would preface our remarks by the request that you not take them too seriously. We offer our opinions hoping that they will be of use to you. We cannot know what of our thoughts will prove useful to you, and what of our thoughts will not prove of any use at this time. We would ask of you to use your discrimination and carefully and consciously select those thoughts that you wish to follow up, using those thoughts as resources. We would ask that you forget all of those thoughts with which you have not specifically felt resonance. In this way we would have the opportunity to speak freely without being concerned that we shall in some way infringe upon your free will and the rhythm of your spiritual process. We thank you for this consideration.
Now let us talk a bit about the personality. In its own way, your essence has a personality. There is a flavor to the vibrations that are uniquely your own. However, this flavoring of sweetness and spice is extraneous to the basic vibration of your being. In contrast to your personality on Planet Earth—that is, your earthly personality—your soul essence does not have that kind of personality. For the moment we are focusing on the personality because, as the one known as Jim said in his query, one must deal with this concept, this perception of a dynamic between the personality and the soul, with the personality itself as a conscious being, in a third-density physical vehicle, living a life on Planet Earth. The personality is that which gives voice even to the most deep and profound of spiritual truths. Indeed, that is why artists, prophets, priests, and other visionaries so often cry out in anguish. For they can feel and taste the truth, but to move it into words is more work than many can ever encompass. Therefore, one must work with the personality in order to aid the spiritual seeking of the self.
One cannot simply work within silence and allow that to be the spiritual practice. There needs to be a structure of thought that is able to hold and order the concerns of the lifetime. The house or chamber of the nautilus that you are born with is a small house. Its structures are simple. When you are a very small child you gain the concept of “me” and “mine” and the nurturer, and the one who is loved, and the one who loves you. These are very simple structures, but they are very meaningful. You barely begin to realize that there are other entities in the world until you are first told to share. That is perhaps the beginning of your career of one who grows on Planet Earth. For that concept of someone else to whom you are kind makes a shift and a change in consciousness that moves you to a larger house, to a larger point of view. Throughout your life then, cyclically, when you have prepared to move house, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally speaking, you shall find yourself in a more spacious palace and a more panoramic view shall be yours as well. Such houses are not built of nothing. In the case of the personality upon planet Earth, the move from a smaller to a larger house, a smaller to a larger point of view is costly. You pay the price in whatever suffering you do as you work on what you conceive of as your spiritual process. You also work upon it with every consciously received moment of thanksgiving and joy.
The group question for this session was: “How can we most skillfully deal with what seems to be a conflict between the personality that wants to do certain things in this illusion and the deeper soul-self that really knows what we ought to be about and what we ought not to be about.” Q’uo began by saying perhaps we have seen a type of mollusk that creates a shell that is called the chambered nautilus, and the animal that creates this shell first creates one shell which is in the nature of a scoop, and as it gains experience it creates a larger amphitheater for itself, so as this sea creature matures, it creates house after house, always spiraling into a larger area, always bringing the self into a more spacious point of view, and the personality can be seen to be this kind of being which must have a house, and it must create and maintain a façade of some kind, so that is the nature of what we call the personality. Then Q’uo said let us talk about the personality because in its own way, our essence has a personality, and there is a flavor to the vibrations that are uniquely our own, but this flavoring of sweetness and spice is unrelated to the basic vibration of our being so that in contrast to our personality on planet Earth our soul does not have that kind of personality, and for the moment Q’uo wanted to focus on the personality because, as Jim said in his query, we must deal with this dynamic between the personality and the soul, with the personality as a conscious being, in a third-density body, living a life on Earth so that the personality gives voice even to the most deep spiritual truths because that is why artists, prophets, priests, and other visionaries so often cry out in anguish, for they can feel and taste the truth, but to move it into words is more work than many can ever encompass, so we must work with the personality in order to aid the spiritual seeking of our self. Q’uo continued by saying its structures are simple since when we were a small child we gained the concept of “me” and “mine,” the nurturer, and the one who is loved, and the one who loves us, and these are simple structures, and they are meaningful, but we barely begin to realize that there are other entities in the world until we were first told to share, and that was the beginning of our career of one who grows on Earth, for that concept of someone else to whom we were kind makes a change in consciousness that moves us to a larger point of view so that through our life when we have prepared to move house, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally speaking, we shall find our self in a more panoramic view that shall be ours as well, but such houses are not built of nothing, so in the case of the personality upon Earth, the move from a smaller to a larger point of view is costly, and we pay the price in whatever suffering we do as we work on what we conceive of as our spiritual process, so we also work upon it with every consciously received moment of thanksgiving and joy. On May 7, 1989, Q’uo described how we can obtain a larger point of view:
The matter of redemption plays a vital role in this process, for as the hero begins to identify the self with a growing viewpoint of the self to include more of that which it views or has viewed as exterior to the self, there is the necessity for allowing the smaller viewpoint to fall away, which is another way of saying that as the hero continues upon this journey, it finds that that which has impeded its progress is its own definition of itself in various modes or manners of expression that have taken root within the perception of the self by the self within the incarnation.
Thus, as these limiting definitions are discarded, there is the need to forgive or to redeem the self which has held these limiting points of view, limiting only as the hero has felt the necessity to move beyond them. For each new point of view or definition of the self will serve the hero for a certain portion of its experience, until it is ready to move beyond this point of view as well. At that time, that point of view will become a hindrance to further progress until a larger point of view is found and the smaller point of view is discarded. This is a simplistic means of describing the process of redemption or redefining of the self.
This instrument has said to herself and others many times that if she can focus on giving thanksgiving and praise for what is happening, she finds there is less of the difficult work to do that seems to involve suffering, either mental, emotional, spiritual or physical. The pressure to grow is indelibly etched into your very essence. You are, by your very nature, a life form in the midst of an evolutionary process. You may dig in your heels and attempt to resist growing and you will slow the rate of growth, but you cannot stop growing. What entities can do, and often choose to do, being unaware of a spiritual dimension to their lives, is attempt to remain as deeply asleep as possible, softening the blows of life with pleasure, distraction, and sleep. We are not speaking to those who wish to sleep. Therefore, we sympathize with you! For you are awake. You cannot go back to sleep. You truly do wish to grow, and you truly are weary at times of the amount of suffering that seems to be involved.
Whatever the kind of suffering that you are experiencing, it has the same function within the growth processes of your soul. It is designed, as the one known as C said, to target specific issues which you came into this incarnation fairly determined to balance. You had to give up the memory of all this good planning, so the actual agenda of your life only comes to you little by little unless you are very lucky, and it strikes you all at once. If you receive a whole vision like that, almost nothing can stop you. But for most entities, the vision is acquired slowly and in stages. And there is a lot of self-doubt. There is the wondering if you are on the right track. Could you be doing something better? Could you be doing something else? Could you be more honest with yourself? And so forth and so on. These are questions that are good to ask, questions that are needful to ask, but questions that distract you from the process of letting faith be your keel and hope your rudder.
Then Q’uo said Carla has said many times that if she can focus on giving thanksgiving and praise for what is happening, she finds there is less difficult work to do that involves suffering, either mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical since the pressure to grow is etched into our being, and we are a life form in the midst of an evolutionary process, so we may dig in our heels and attempt to resist growing in order to slow the rate of growth, but we cannot stop growing so that what we can do, being unaware of a spiritual dimension to our lives, is attempt to remain as deeply asleep as possible, softening the blows of life with distraction and sleep, but Q’uo is not speaking to those who wish to sleep because they sympathized with us, for we are awake, and we cannot go back to sleep since we do wish to grow, and we are weary at times of the amount of suffering that seems to be involved. Q’uo went on to say the catalyst, as C, Carla, and Jim said, does not stop because we become aware that it is catalyst because we do the work of becoming grateful for the good catalyst and for the good work to do, but we can only manipulate our true feelings so far as Carla was speaking earlier of how she must remove from her consciousness the details of her present moment before she can come to that awareness of self that is the real self, the consciousness that is shared with the infinite Creator and with all the forces of love and light within her world, and it is possible to become that open vessel, but it takes work to release pain and, to release the resentment that grows up around having to feel the pain, and Q’uo realized that they are talking to a wide range of entities since for some of us the pain is emotional, or physical, or spiritual, and in all cases there is a mixture of each, but always there is an emphasis on one of those three. Q’uo continued by saying whatever the kind of suffering we are experiencing, it has the same function within the growth processes of our soul, and it is designed to target issues which we came into this incarnation determined to balance, so we had to give up the memory of this planning, and the actual agenda of our life comes to us little by little unless we are lucky, and it strikes us all at once, and if we receive a vision like that, nothing can stop us, but for most of us, the vision is acquired in stages, and there is a lot of self-doubt, and there is the wondering if we are on the right track, and these are questions that are good to ask, but they distract us from the process of letting faith be our keel and hope our rudder. On April 15, 1990, Q’uo spoke of the causes of self-doubt:
Many entities within the childhood experience are cut off from the feeling of self-love. This is perhaps the most common of those limitations which are chosen before the incarnation, in order that the entity may experience and exercise the lesson that one is not here to be loved but to love. One is not here to be pampered, but to console others. One is not here to be praised, but to support, cherish, and nurture those about one, seeing in them the infinite Creator. The inability to feel the worth of the self derives its strength, for the most part, from the childhood wherein the child is not accepted as it is, in which the child is not appreciated, feels itself not to be fully loved, feels itself to be criticized, feels itself to be unable to please those first witnesses and embodiments of the Creator, the parents.
As the parents cut the child off from the spontaneous giving and taking of love, so in the mature spiritual search the pilgrim shall find itself laden with a burden of self-doubt, and that even heavier burden of unidentified guilt, for in such a childhood one is given the feeling that one is somehow guilty, but of what, the child knows not. One is given the feeling that the child is unwanted, and there is no defense possible to that child, for in the young years of incarnation the child is too purely that spirit which incarnated into the world to have defenses against lack of self-perceived love, worth and righteousness.
You can only go so far with your chamber, given that we continue to use the image of the chambered nautilus. The most marvelously expansive palace with the widest point of view possible will give to you everything right up to the limit of the rational and the known. You will look upon physical things from this personality shell. You will see stars, but they will not live. You will hear the wind, but you will not hear it speaking to you. You are trapped, as a personality, in a world of thought and form. You cannot see that the forms and the thoughts are common to you all. You cannot see beyond the uniqueness of your body and its obviously physical separation from all other bodies. You cannot see the dance of your auras as they dance upon each other and form harmonics and combinations of woven color that are quite remarkable in their beauty. You cannot see all of the entities of Earth: the flowers, the trees, the animals, the water, all the elements with their characteristic vibrations and their characteristic auras, all merging and flowing in and out of each other in an endless harmony and a beautiful symphony. That is the limitation of that entity that you are when you use the word, “I.”
You moved into incarnation in this very limited physical vehicle with its very limited instincts and mentality because you as a soul had work to do. It may well help, when you are in the midst of suffering, to remember and validate for yourself the simple fact that you chose the work you are about now in the world. You wanted it very much. You wanted the opportunity badly. Not only did you want to help others, but you also wanted to work on your vibration. Some of you felt that you were overbalanced toward love and tended towards becoming martyrs rather than applying the wisdom that balances martyrdom and creates of it continued life and continued teaching and an expansion of possibilities.
Some of you came into this incarnation with the opinion that you had far too much wisdom and that it was keeping you from coming into the full openness of heart that you truly wished for yourself. From whichever dynamic you are approaching balance, you will be drawn to certain lessons. Those who wish to gain wisdom will be offered opportunities to use wisdom. Those of you who wish to become openhearted will find those themes of catalytic event occurring again and again that challenge you to open your heart at the expense of rationality and the perceived wisdom. Realize that when you do this work, your responsibility is to form an intention and to offer it up to the spirit within you. There is much that is hidden in mystery about your guidance. Do not attempt, then, to reason out these moments of suffering and learning. Certainly, apply the wisdom of analysis as you wish. But realize always that skillful work with the personality involves moving back into the silence, allowing the personality to fall away, becoming empty, as this instrument was talking about doing earlier, and receiving in that silence things that are and will remain a mystery but which will, nevertheless, create for you the possibilities of new structure, a larger home, a more capacious and compassionate personality.
Now Q’uo said we can only go so far with our chamber, given that they continued to use the image of the chambered nautilus, but the most expansive palace with the widest point of view possible will give us everything up to the limit of what is known, and there is the limitation of that entity that we are when we use the word, “I,” so when we look upon physical things from this personality shell we: “will see stars, but they will not live. We will hear the wind, but we will not hear it speaking to us. We cannot see that the forms and the thoughts are common to us all. We cannot see beyond the uniqueness of our body and its obviously physical separation from all other bodies. We cannot see all of the entities of Earth: the flowers, the trees, the animals, the water, all the elements with their characteristic vibrations and their characteristic auras, all merging and flowing in and out of each other in an endless harmony and a beautiful symphony.” Q’uo went on to say we moved into incarnation in this limited body with its limited instincts and mentality because we had work to do, so it may help, when we are suffering, to remember the fact that we chose the work we are doing in the world because we wanted the opportunity to help others, but we also wanted to work on our vibration, and some of us felt that we were overbalanced toward love and tended to become martyrs rather than applying the wisdom that balances martyrdom and creates our life of teaching and an expansion of possibilities. Q’uo continued by saying some of us came into this incarnation feeling that we had too much wisdom, and that it was keeping us from coming into the openness of heart that we wished for ourself, so from whichever dynamic we are approaching balance, we will be drawn to certain lessons, and those of us who wish to gain wisdom will be offered opportunities to use wisdom, and those of us who wish to become openhearted will find those catalytic events occurring again and again that challenge us to open our heart at the expense of wisdom, so when we do this work, our responsibility is to form an intention and to offer it up to the spirit within us because there is much that is hidden in mystery about our guidance, but we should not attempt to understand these moments of suffering and learning although we can apply the wisdom of analysis as we wish, but we must realize that skillful work with our personality involves moving back into the silence, allowing our personality to fall away, becoming empty, and receiving in that silence things that will remain a mystery but which will create for us the possibilities of a larger home and a more compassionate personality. On January 5, 1997, Q’uo spoke of how we can use our personality metaphysically to express our nature as the Creator:
The entity which seeks to discipline the personality, to become a metaphysical being, to exercise the way of the magician in attempting to arrive at changes in consciousness, these things are done primarily through those qualities which you have spoken of when you spoke of faith and love.
The entity which seeks to become a metaphysical being and to exercise the expression of its personality finds in the positive polarity that the ability to love comes forth from the primary faith that the entity has been able to nourish and to cause to grow within the self. All of these elements of the personality and the ingredients that make up the multifaceted being that each is find the necessity to give and receive love the primary building block and energy of all creation with each portion of the life experience. Thus, the entity who wishes to be a metaphysical personality stokes its internal furnace with faith, and the energy which is output is likened unto love, the means by which it is done, the many facets of the personality that has been disciplined and is available as a resource, that one may write the tone poem of life with an unique and distinctive flourish, that gives a glorification to the one Creator in that it is a means by which a metaphysical entity begins to express its nature as the Creator.
We would say, “No,” to the question would we suggest for you to lose the personality. You do not wish to lose the personality, although as various parts of it fall away naturally, it is a wonderfully freeing experience. Your personality is a perfectly good structure. You are, however, working to refine your personality. Now the word “refine” means to purify, and it calls up images of the fiery furnace and being reduced to your liquid components of this metal, that metal, and so forth, and the dross being drained off and the good part being made into some fine steel or creating something metallic. Yours is not that kind of refinery. If you will notice your physical vehicle, it is a chemical refinery. It takes in raw foods. It uses the good, and it excretes the waste. It may help you to think of your mental and emotional appetites in the same way. You’re going to be eating a lot of raw food when it comes to food as experience. It will hit you sometimes like a French au cuisine dinner, sometimes like an unfortunate trip to a greasy burger place, and sometimes somewhere in between.
Some of the experiences that you receive will be sweet to your tongue and delicious to process: your lover’s touch, the cry of your baby, those wonderful times when you see the beauty of the moment in the sunshine and shadow. Treasure and store up those moments of pure awareness. The kind of refinery you are as a soul is one who takes all that hits the self in the present moment and gazes at it with an eye to response. If you are too quick to respond, then you have quickly used up that opportunity. If the response is not complete or well thought out, or on the level you would have preferred if you thought about it further, then you have minimized the effectiveness of this particular catalyst.
Consequently, in terms of dealing with difficult catalyst, it is helpful that you become aware of your resistance to it. It is understandable for you to resist by instinct anything that will make you uncomfortable. Whether it is a physical discomfort because of a physical condition or an emotional discomfort because of a difficult relationship, the discomfort is there and the instinct of your physical vehicle with its intellect is to resist it. You wish either to change it or to eliminate it. The last thing you want to do is accept it, appreciate it, bless it, and use it. Yet for those who have the presence of mind to go through that process of separating the self from the immediacy of the catalyst and becoming that self that is aware of the catalyst and wishes to choose how to respond, such catalyst can begin to be seen as the gift that it truly is.
It is the work of a lifetime to learn not to resist seemingly difficult catalyst. Yet as each of you has at times discovered, when you release all resistance and embrace the situation your environment lightens as if dawn had just broken on a new day. You are able to say, “All right, I see this, and I welcome it. Help me learn how to receive this gift. Help me to have insight into its purpose in my life. Help me to look in the mirror of this discomfort and see the face of the infinite Creator.” We believe that this is a good stopping place for this particular topic and we would, at this time, ask if there are other queries that this group may have. We are those of Q’uo.
Q’uo went on to say “No,” to the question if we should lose our personality because we do not wish to lose our personality, although as various parts of it fall away it is a freeing experience as our personality is a good structure, but we are working to refine our personality, so now the word “refine” means to purify, and it calls up images of the fiery furnace and being reduced to our liquid components of this metal and the dross being drained off, and the good part being made into some fine steel, but ours is not that kind of refinery, and if we will notice our physical vehicle, it is a chemical refinery that takes in raw foods, uses the good, and excretes the waste, so it may help us to think of our mental and emotional appetites in the same way since we are going to be eating a lot of raw food when it comes to food as experience, and it will hit us sometimes like a French elegant dinner, sometimes like an unfortunate trip to a greasy burger place, and sometimes somewhere in between. Then Q’uo said some of the experiences that we receive will be sweet to our tongue : our lover’s touch, and those times when we see the beauty of the moment in the sunshine and shadow that we can treasure and store up in moments of pure awareness because this is the kind of refinery we are as a soul who takes our experience in the present moment and gazes at it with an eye to response, but if we are too quick to respond, then we have used up that opportunity, or if the response is not complete then we have minimized the effectiveness of this catalyst. Q’uo continued by saying in terms of dealing with difficult catalyst, it is helpful that we become aware of our resistance to it, and it is understandable for us to resist by instinct anything that will make us uncomfortable whether it is a physical discomfort or an emotional discomfort, the discomfort is there, and the instinct of our physical vehicle with its intellect is to resist it, so we wish to change it or to eliminate it, but the last thing we want to do is accept it and use it, but for those of us who have the presence of mind to go through that process of separating our self from the immediacy of the catalyst and becoming that self that is aware of the catalyst and wishes to choose how to respond, such catalyst can begin to be seen as the gift that it truly is. Now Q’uo completed their reply by saying it is the work of a lifetime to learn not to resist seemingly difficult catalyst, yet as each of us has discovered when we release all resistance and embrace the situation our environment lightens as if dawn had just broken on a new day, and we are able to say: “All right, I see this, and I welcome it. Help me learn how to receive this gift. Help me to have insight into its purpose in my life. Help me to look in the mirror of this discomfort and see the face of the infinite Creator.” On March 18, 2017, Q’uo spoke about our work of a lifetime:
The process that we described in the opening response to your primary question was how to utilize the catalyst of your experience, the catalyst of your world, the catalyst of your daily round of activities, in order to be able to eventually utilize the shuttle in such a fashion. This is the work of the adept; this is the work of a lifetime; this is the work that requires great dedication, concentration, repetition, and, shall we say, imagination, for that which stands before the doughty seeker of truth is a gauntlet of catalyst that shall test one’s ability to be able to find love where there seems to be no love at all; to find wisdom where there seems to be only ignorance; to find companionship where there seems to be only separation; to find unity where there is nothing but separation. This is the work of the magician; this is the work of the conscious mind; this is the work of the adept, my brother. This is what each of you is here to do; this is what each of you is doing quite well, in our estimation. We would recommend to each of you that you keep doing what you are doing.
We believe that this is a good stopping place for this particular topic and we would, at this time, ask if there are other queries that this group may have. We are those of Q’uo.
[No further queries.]
We are those of Q’uo. As we seem to have exhausted the questions in this group at this time, we shall thank you once again for calling us to your circle and for allowing us the privilege of sharing your vibrations. We leave you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Adonai. Adonai.
This morning I vacuumed the first floor of my home, and then I went outside and used the garden hose to put more water in the fishpond in order to lower the height of the fountain that had begun to splash water outside of the pond.
This afternoon I went outside and started up Venus, my large lawn mower, and went around to the street where the brick foundation to my mailbox had been accidentally run into by the friend of my neighbor as she was backing our of their driveway. I used the front of my mower to push the brick foundation back into its proper location.
From A Book of Days, channeled by Carla L. Rueckert:
April 11
A Fine Pilgrimage
I am the spirit of Jesus the Christ, and I greet you in the full consciousness of Love.
I am the Comforter. Come, take my hand. Together we may walk through the land of experience. Together we may see the illumination of day and rejoice in the velvet darkness of night. Together the soul and its Comforter may make a fine pilgrimage of any road and any weather.
Seek the consolation and the comfort of the consciousness of Love. It lies waiting for the touch of your hand, the invitation of your heart. Perhaps you may want to travel for awhile, experiencing the feeling of aloneness and calling to feelings of helplessness and despair. These experiences, too, are most wonderful. Yet when the pitch of experience becomes too keen to bear alone, hold in remembrance that you are not without comfort at any time, in any place.
For the peace and the Love of Jesus the Christ are in the world in which you truly live. And in that kingdom of consciousness we leave you, now and always. Amen.
I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight:
We come in the name of love and open our hearts, minds, and souls to send love, light, and healing energy to Mother Earth as she brings forth a new Earth in the fourth density. We ask that the infinite love, light, and healing energy of the One Infinite Creator heal the hearts of all souls in pain on Earth tonight. May all souls on Earth feel our love, light, and healing energy in their hearts, their minds, and their souls. Amen.
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