VOLUME 15 - Number 39                                                                                                     September 24, 1993

Beloved Friends, 

Thus far, we have primarily explored using your Spiritual Journal in conjunction with your time in the Silence. This is, by far, the most vital discipline to be applied with respect to your Journal. You are learning to "Ask, Wait, Discern, and Act" in order to fan the Flame of Illumined Obedience within your life experience. Indeed, there is no more important lesson to learn in the world of form, than to consistently take the steps necessary to outpicture your Inner Christ in all of your affairs. 

There are many ways in which your Spiritual Journal may be of assistance as you learn to become the Christ in action. One suggestion was made by Beloved Lord Maitreya, when he recently recommended the Spiritual Journal as a "learning tool." ('The Bridge to Spiritual Freedom Journal, Vol. II, No. 12, Dec. 1992, pp. 7-10) Specifically, he advised that the Spiritual Journal can be of great assistance to the chela, when used in conjunction with the weekly and monthly instruction transmitted to our chelas through the Bridge to Spiritual Freedom activity. 

In order to master any educational curriculum - whether it be mathematics, literature, languages, or even the "science of being" - it is necessary that the student set aside time for study and contemplation of the lessons offered. The material presented through the Bridge to Spiritual Freedom requires, perhaps, more effort at assimilation than the earthly courses of study mentioned above - for the nature of our instruction requires a re-education, not only of the mental body, but of the physical, etheric and emotional vehicles as well. 

Each month, you receive the Bridge to Spiritual Freedom Journal, which contains several discourses for your enlightenment, as well as invocations, decrees, visualizations, etc. Through the Bridge Journal, you receive information regarding the Electronic Pattern of the month; the Temple which is open during the cycle; and the particular Divine Quality of the Flame which is nourished in that Temple. You are also given a breathing statement so that you may assist in the expansion and projection of the Flame in your individual and group work. 

In addition to the monthly Journal, you - as students of the Inner Teachings - receive weekly instruction through the Shamballa Letters. The Letters provide information which is intended to be useful to you in assimilating and expanding the influence of the monthly instruction in your beings and worlds. 

Given the volume of information, it is understandable that some of the gifts we offer may go "unopened" for some time, as Master El Morya has pointed out. 

Allow me to pose a question to you: If a bountiful feast is laid before a starving man, how does that one choose which foods to eat? Does he carefully select the most nutritious dishes, keeping in mind that his body is in need of nourishment? Does he reach for the foods which his palate recalls as being the most sweet and enjoyable to consume? Or does he indiscriminately sate his hunger with the morsels which are closest to hand? How does he choose? 

The answer to this question depends upon the level of consciousness of the starving man. Is he wise? Or, is he controlled by the discomfort of his hunger? 

As chelas of the Great White Brotherhood, you are - at all times - our honored guests at the Feast of the Spirit. How do you best discern which spiritual nourishment is most needed by your lifestream, and which provender may be put aside until needed? 

I would like you to ponder this question during the coming week, carrying it with you into the Silence for enlightenment on the matter. The issue of spiritual discernment is central to your spiritual growth and expanded service. Contemplate, beloved ones, until we meet again! 

I AM your brother, Kuthumi